The Last Step
by b-chan1
Summary: Genin, Chuunin, Jounin, these were all just steps to Hokage for Naruto. However, as a Jounin, he hits a small snag. Something about teaching a team? Chapter 8.5: Naruto reflects on his progress.
1. You want me to what?

The Naruto concept is owned by...Um...Who owns Naruto? The only name I can think of is Koushun Takami, and he's the guy who wrote Battle Royale. Hang on...Oh yeah. Masashi Kishimoto. This is his concept, I'm merely bending it to my will. I own this specific story idea, and any original characters contained within. Past that, it's all Kishimoto.  
  
The Last Step: You want me to WHAT?  
  
***  
  
The sun.  
  
It was an irritating thing, he decided. Always sticking it's light rays into places where they didn't belong, and were entirely unwanted.  
  
Like his eyes, for example. Naruto would be perfectly content if the sun would kindly remove the light from his eyes. That would just make his day, what little of it had passed so far.  
  
No luck. Pouting internally, Naruto admitted defeat. The sun had won.  
  
Naruto shifted onto his other side. He wasn't ready to get out of bed yet, not by a long shot. What was that phrase? You may have won the battle, but you haven't won the war? Yeah. The sun had won the battle, but Naruto would just as soon give up his dream of becoming Hokage before he'd admit defeat to a gas giant like the sun.  
  
Dammit, there was still light in his eyes. What was going on?  
  
Slowly, Naruto cranked open one eyelid, just to scope out the battlefield.  
  
Ah...there was his enemy. The sun had cowardly teamed up with the mirror to defeat Naruto once again. Growling, Naruto decided to finish this skirmish once and for all.  
  
Regally, the great general of the ongoing battle against stars and reflective surfaces hauled his mid-thirties body from his bed. With great thumping steps, he walked over to the window. He just knew that puny little star was pleading for mercy. Well, he wouldn't get any. No matter what promise of peace was granted, Naruto had learned that the sun was a compulsive liar, and the mirror was not to be trusted. They always teamed up again next morning. Naruto was simply too stubborn to admit he had been bested, and change the setup of the room. There was a way to win, and Naruto would be damned if he gave up before finding it.  
  
Decisively, the shaggy blonde wrenched the blinds on his window shut.  
  
"That'll show 'im", the man muttered to himself. He padded back to his welcoming bed, content in his victory. It had been hard won, he knew. But, in the end, all that mattered was that the sun had been driven away. He'd deal with the traitorous furniture later. For now, sleep beckoned  
  
Happily, Naruto climbed back into bed. Closed his eyes (free of light this time, ya jerk. Try again tomorrow morning, why don't you?). Waited for sleep.  
  
And waited. And waited.  
  
Dammit, where was sleep? He could have sworn it was calling not two minutes ago. But now? Nothing.  
  
Naruto's eyes flew open as he comprehended the sun's true purpose. The light in the eyes had been nothing but a ruse! The mirror was nothing but a distraction. Having Naruto get up to close the blinds was the real goal, as that simple action would get enough blood flowing to keep Naruto from getting back to sleep! GAH! He had been outsmarted once again.  
  
Just to spite it, Naruto went and threw open the blinds again. Squinting in the sudden glare, he opened his window. Stuck his head out. Shook his hand violently at the floating ball of fire.  
  
"You may have won this round, but I'll be back. I always am. Your quest is futile, you pathetic candle. Why don't you burn yourself out and give us all some peace?"  
  
The sun twinkled, laughing at him. Naruto scowled, and slammed the window shut.  
  
He glared at the rebellious mirror.  
  
"I'll deal with you later", he warned. Haphazardly, he threw on some clothes and began preparing some breakfast.  
  
***  
  
"Have you prepared the team lists, Konohamaru?"  
  
"Yes, Hokage-Sama. I assume you'd like to look at them"  
  
"Of course I would. Otherwise, why would I ask you about them?"  
  
Konohamaru flushed with embarrassment, but the feeling fled at the easy laugh of the fifth Hokage, Tsunade. He handed the short list over, and she scanned it with a practiced eye.  
  
"Hm...Interesting."  
  
Konohamaru tuned her mumbles out and thought about his job. He was an academy teacher now, Iruka-Sensei long since retired and living happily on the pension provided by the village. When the job was opened, around five years ago, Konohamaru had been recovering from a chuunin mission gone awry. He was getting bored and restless in the hospital, so the Hokage arranged for him to take over from Iruka as the new teacher. It hadn't been planned as a permanent thing, but Konohamaru decided he liked it, and stuck with his rank, and therefore his job. If he tried to advance, he knew that he would not only leave a void in the school which would be hard to fill, but he'd be saddled with a team of Genin. Konohamaru thought of that as a fate marginally worse than death. At least as a teacher, he could give obnoxious children detention. Or tie them to the ceiling. Whichever was more convenient. He snickered, thinking back to his own days at the academy, under the tutelage of Iruka and Ebisu. He was such a little punk back then...it was amazing anybody put up with him the way they did.  
  
Idly, Konohamaru noted that Tsunade was reaching for a drink. As she sipped delicately, he checked her eyes. She was about halfway down the list, right around where he-  
  
He stepped to the side, noting the heaving of the throat, a common prelude to a spewing of drink. Plus he had just dropped a bomb on the Hokage with the team assignments, so some sort of reaction was to be expected.  
  
"You put these three with HIM? Are you crazy?"  
  
Tsunade vented, showing her displeasure at the assignment for Team 4. Konohamaru sighed, although he smiled internally.  
  
"Honestly, there wasn't any place else for me to put them. None of them get along with anybody, really. Individually, any of them could ruin a different team. I can't afford to do that, so I have to dump them all together. They're not really that bad, when you get right down to it. I was more disruptive then all of them put together, in my day. They just...don't...- "  
  
Konohamaru fumbled for a word to describe what he was thinking. Each of the three children was a passable ninja. Some were better than others, but that was to be expected. It was just...  
  
"Well, they don't quite work out", Konohamaru finished lamely.  
  
Tsunade rubbed her forehead, a sure sign of frustration. While she didn't look a day over thirty, Konohamaru knew that she must be peaking seventy. How much longer until she retires, he mused. Sandaime had retired when he was around fifty, regaining office about about 57 or so. He died when he was 69, perhaps a little younger than Tsunade is now. Of course, Konohamaru reasoned, his grandpa had been strong enough to retain office for another decade, or so. And Tsunade was probably stronger at this age than Gramps had been, back then.  
  
"I understand all of that. I've been watching these kids too, you know. It's just...why with him?"  
  
Now, Konohamaru smiled on the outside, as well as the inside.  
  
"If anybody can get them to function as a team, it'll be him. Besides, I enjoy lording what little power I have over him. He's a Jounin, and therefore eligible for a team leader".  
  
For the first time since Konohamaru had walked into her office, Tsunade began to smile. Then she began to laugh. Sensing success, Konohamaru decided to go while the going was good, and gathered up his list. Slipping out quietly, he left the fifth Hokage, still chuckling quietly to herself.  
  
***  
  
Naruto finished his instant ramen breakfast with a satisfied slurp, and tossed the cup into the trashcan behind him without looking. The muffled swish it made let him realize his success.  
  
Smiling, Naruto put on his around-town clothes. He didn't have any missions today that he knew of, so he'd probably whittle away his time exploring. He'd probably do some training, as well.  
  
He opened his door and walked out to face the world. He was, in fact, too busy facing the world to face his mail box. If he had, he would have noticed the letter of Official Summons to the academy.  
  
But Naruto was too busy facing the world to worry about something minor like that. If he had known, he would have reasoned that he really deserved the day off, and whatever he had to do at the academy could wait until tomorrow. Or at least until after he had gotten in some relaxing cloud watching with Shikamaru.  
  
However, he didn't know about the letter. So he didn't know that he shouldn't go to the academy, because he didn't know that he was supposed to.  
  
So he decided to visit his friend Konohamaru. After all, weren't team assignments today? That would certainly be something worth watching. Naruto had to be on hand for it, in only so that he could make fun of the other jounins who got suckered into teaching a team. He'd never do that, no way. Too much work. Naruto was too busy training to become Hokage to even think about babysitting three snot nosed little brats for even a day.  
  
***  
  
Shikamaru Nara loved to sleep.  
  
So did his twelve year old son, in fact.  
  
When you got right down to it, pretty much the whole family liked to sleep.  
  
Except the females, I guess.  
  
No, the females liked something else entirely.  
  
"Shikamaru Nara, if you don't get up this instant, I'm going to go next door and give your breakfast to Midomaru."  
  
And in another room of the small house:  
  
"Shikashi Nara, if you don't get up this instant, I'll dump your boiling hot oatmeal into your bed with you."  
  
Yes...the females enjoyed something else entirely. Specifically, they enjoyed nagging the males.  
  
Two sleepy eyes opened at once. Two intelligent minds contemplated the threats posed upon them by their wife or sister, whichever applied.  
  
And two lazy people lost any chance of a well cooked breakfast that morning. One went to the dogs, another went to a location a bit closer to home.  
  
"Gah! That's hot! How do you expect me to function as a ninja if I'm suffering from burns all over my body?", complained Shikashi.  
  
His older-by-four-years sister laughed at his pain.  
  
"You'll have to deal with worse once you're actually a ninja, you know. There will be days when you'll dream of having only burns from oatmeal as an impediment to your performance", replied Inoka Nara, the older sister. She was sixteen, and already a clear favorite for the Jounin exams. She had managed to inherit not only her father's intelligence, but her mother's determination. Just as Shikamaru had gone far without even trying, Inoka had tried her hardest, and it showed in her progress as a ninja. It was whispered among some, that she could even be a rival for the offspring of the famed Uchiwa prodigy.  
  
Whispered quietly, of course. But whispered nonetheless. Inoka had heard these rumors, and basked in them.  
  
After all...beating Hana Uchiwa would a nice feather in a rising kunoichi's cap, right?  
  
And besides, she mused...He was kind of cute.  
  
Shaking her head, she mentally slapped herself. Now was no time to be thinking about troublesome things like that! Right now, her self appointed class B mission was to get her lazy brother out of his bed and out of the house in time for him to make it to the team assignments.  
  
As she performed the Kagemane no Jutsu, she noticed crashing and cursing coming from the room across the hall. That would be her mother, waking her father. Just like she did every morning. With the Shintenshin no Jutsu.  
  
"Aw, c'mon, sis. I need to put on some clothes, can't I have a little privacy?"  
  
Inoka chuckled at her brother's plaintive whining. With a quick gesture, she released the jutsu.  
  
"You've got three minutes, little man. After that, I'm coming in after you".  
  
Her brother nodded and began pulling clothes out of his dresser. Inoka gave the room a final once-over, nodded in satisfaction, and sashayed her way out, probably to go aid her mother.  
  
As soon as the door closed, Shikashi sank to the floor. It only took him a minute to get dressed. That was two minutes he could sleep.  
  
The sun, having already given up with the Nara clan, left him alone in his slumber.  
  
***  
  
Across town, a different scene was taking place.  
  
"Get up, you lump! You get your team assignments today, then you get out of here for good! You Genin get pay, you can live on your own from now on!"  
  
A loud slap echoed through the house.  
  
Kutsu quickly rolled out of his futon, shielding his head from the floor and further blows he knew were coming. He slid his foot under the padded mattress and kicked it up into his father's arms, entangling them and preventing the drunken ex-ninja from striking further.  
  
"You damn snake! Get back here!"  
  
Kutsu made a mad dash for the kitchen, snatching a bagel on his way out the door. Standing in the street, he glared in defiance at the man who dared call himself his father.  
  
"You can't touch me now, ya drunk! I'm an official ninja of Konoha, and deliberately and maliciously injuring a ninja is tantamount to treason!"  
  
A thrown shoe struck him in the head in the middle of his tirade.  
  
"Get out of here, you lazy leech! If you're such an important ninja, then get your own apartment and leave me to my drink. I've got enough to think about without having to worry about a snot like you."  
  
Kutsu blinked back the single tear he knew would be coming. No matter how many times he heard those hurtful words, he never quite got used to them. Everybody else in the academy had a family who loved them, why didn't he? Why couldn't life be fair?  
  
"I'm leaving you, and I'm never coming back! NEVER!", he shouted angrily.  
  
"Good", came the uncaring reply. "You don't matter to me, why would it bother me that you're gone?"  
  
Ah yes. Kutsu didn't matter to his father. That's why life wasn't fair. Because at the heart of things, Kutsu simply didn't matter to anybody. Including himself.  
  
Holding back another tear, Kutsu rubbed his cheek and headed off for the academy. A bruise would form by the time he got there, he knew it. Oh well...there was nothing to be done.  
  
He hadn't gone more then three paces when he realized that he had left all of his possessions inside that hellhouse, including his kunai and technique scrolls. And the one thing which mattered most to Kutsu, the picture of his mother. He hid it in his futon, to keep his father from finding it. The picture belonged to Kutsu, and nobody else was allowed to look at something so precious. How could he have been so stupid?  
  
Slowly, Kutsu began the long walk to the academy. He'd find the picture somehow, he knew it. If he had to, he'd hire out his own team to get it back.  
  
***  
  
Her morning began, like all her mornings did, as smelly.  
  
Having a dog as your alarm clock tended to do that, in any case.  
  
Not that Kimiko Inuzuka didn't love her dog Midomaru to pieces. She did.  
  
Just not in the morning. And not the breath. And not in the face.  
  
Please, not in the face.  
  
"Oi, Kimiko-chan! You'd better get up soon. You don't want to miss your team assignments, do you?" Her father's booming voice echoed through the house, like it always did. Kiba never tried to be loud...he just was.  
  
"Come on, girl. You can't miss it, your team is depending on you. You'll be the strongest ninja of all of them, especially when you and Midomaru work together". Her father placed a strong hand on her shoulder, Akamaru by his side. "I know you're nervous, puppy. But don't worry. You're a good ninja, you really are. Just try to have a little more confidence, huh?"  
  
Kimiko bowed her head in embarrassment. Confidence. Her father had sacks and sacks of confidence lying around, while his daughter had none. Kiba didn't understand it, and through that, he didn't understand his daughter. He had trained her with her dog, and they worked well together. He'd seen proof of that in the forest where they practiced.  
  
She was skilled with weapons, too. Her mother, Tenten, had seen to that.  
  
So where did this emptiness come from? Kiba had given up attempting to understand a long time ago. Now, he was happy if he could simply support his daughter in whatever she tried to do.  
  
Midomaru licked Kiba's face, and he laughed. "Okay, dog-breath. I get the hint. I'll leave my daughter alone to change and get ready".  
  
As he exited the room, he ran into his wife, not entirely on accident. She squeaked as Akamaru slunk between her legs, and Kiba used the moment of distraction to sneak a kiss in.  
  
"She's getting ready, Ten-chan. Just a couple more minutes, and she should be out."  
  
Ten-Ten smiled. As her husband and her exited to the kitchen, she mused on her daughter. Maybe getting some teammates to depend on and train with would help build her self confidence. Heaven knows it helped with Hinata, she thought. Of course, it hadn't given Hinata that extra little boost she needed to confess to Naruto. Personally, Ten-Ten didn't know why she was worried. A strong ninja, Naruto was. Intelligent, he was not. Kindly, he was slow on the uptake.  
  
Unkindly, he was dumb as a brick. Ten-Ten harbored some serious doubts that Hinata's confessing her love to Naruto-kun would penetrate his thick skull. After all; if he hadn't gotten it by now, there was nothing anybody could do.  
  
***  
  
Naruto strolled down the street, whistling quietly to himself. He was slowly ambling his way down the street towards the academy. He wouldn't want to be late for the team assignments, after all.  
  
Ah, there it was. The academy, in all it's glory. Naruto easily bypassed the fence, and made his way around the back, to the classrooms where the students would meet their jounin instructors for the first time.  
  
***br "So...", Kimiko ventured. She examined the members of her new team. "Um...Kutzu? Kusu?"  
  
Kutsu glared at the annoying girl who kept on trying to make conversation. Couldn't she see that he just wanted to be alone?  
  
"Kutsu", He muttered.  
  
"Oh...I'm sorry. Um..." Kimiko faltered, unsure of how to phrase her question.  
  
Kutsu closes his eyes. "I walked into a door. That's how I got the bruise. That's what you're going to ask. So I walked into a door. Are you satisfied now? Can I be alone, now?"  
  
Kimiko nodded, not knowing what to say.  
  
Shikashi opened one eye to examine Kutsu. Walking into a door? Interesting. Shikashi thought about that while he rested. Probably somebody hit him, that's the stereotypical excuse used when somebody is beating on you. A grown man, with an open handed slap, judging by the size of that bruise. Quite possibly his father, or some other relative.  
  
No matter. If Kutsu wanted to keep it a secret, then that was just fine with Shikashi. He didn't want to get mixed up in something so troublesome, anyway.  
  
A hand knocked on the door to the classroom, and everybody looked up. Seeing nobody but the fifth Hokage, they returned to their positions.  
  
Tsunade entered, and examined the new team. "Well, I'm not sure where your new sensei is, but he should be here soon", she informed the three genin. "However, since he's not here to give you this speech, I'll make it for him."  
  
Kutsu sighed, and buried his head in his arms. Shikashi was already in a listening position, and Kimiko shifted nervously, trying to appear completely attentive. However, her worried eyes kept on drifting over to Kutsu and his bruise.  
  
"You three are now in a team together. I need to make sure you understand what that means.  
  
You three will be together until one or all of you are promoted to Chuunin. Even then, you'll still perform group missions together fairly often. It's not until you reach Jounin that you'll begin accepting actual solo missions. And you probably won't become a Jounin for at least two or three years, if ever.  
  
So for the foreseeable future, you and your team will be together. That means everything.  
  
Your team is going to be your lifeline for your missions. You will depend on them to back you up, just as they will depend on you. You three will learn to work together, or you will die.  
  
Now, you'll probably have fights and disagreements with your teammates. That's to be expected. However, I and your sensei will expect you to work those disagreements out as soon as you can. Because the singlemost worst thing you can do as a ninja is to abandon your team.  
  
If you remember nothing else from your days at the academy, I want you to remember that. Never turn your back on your team."  
  
With that, Tsunade left, leaving the three adolescents to mull over her words.  
  
***  
  
Naruto examined the signs posted on the doors. He took the occasional peek through the window, to see which of the students had been promoted.  
  
Let's see...Lee had a team. So did Shino. And Hinata, as well. He peeked through that window, if only to see the teacher. As soon as he looked in, he looked away. He didn't want anybody to think that he was in love with Hinata, certainly. Of course not.  
  
He ignored the slight blush on his face. And he didn't see the slight blush on hers.  
  
Moving on... He came to the last door. He examined the sign. Who was the poor sap who got saddled with this team?  
  
"U...zu..ma..ki..Naru~"  
  
Then it hit him. That was his name on the sign. And those three inside were his students.  
  
"WHAAAT?"  
  
The scream resounded through the entire village.  
  
***  
  
Coming up: "You're a ninja? You look more like a circus freak. How am I supposed to learn anything from some loser like you" "Listen, you little snot-nose. I don't want this any more than you do. So I'm thankful I get a chance to fail all of you before I actually need to do that much work. Meet me out by the bridge tomorrow at eleven, and I'll show you just how much I can do."  
  
Author's note: Wow. This is longer than the research paper I was working on while I wrote this. That sucks.  
  
So Naruto has a team now. How'll that work out? I don't know. But it'll be interesting.  
  
This story idea came to me while I was looking at a background on my computer. It's got the picture of Yondaime with his team, including baby Kakashi. Then it has the picture of Kakashi with his time, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. And I was thinking about how the 4th Hokage was a teacher before he became Hokage. It happened to him. So why couldn't it happen to Naruto?  
  
I don't know if there will be pairings in this. Shikamaru and Ino are married, along with Kiba and Ten-Ten (Why not?). Yes, I know that Kimiko seems more like Hinata. But I needed three people with personality traits that don't lend themselves well to working with other people, and no self confidence was one of them. But I wanted Hinata unmarried, so she could be a teacher of a team. And I figured I could do some interesting stuff with the relationship between Kiba and Kimiko, since they don't appear to understand each other very well.  
  
Kutsu (shoe, in Japanese), is an original character. We'll go more into him in later chapters, I think. However, his father is just a nameless ninja. Not somebody we know. So don't worry; I haven't turned somebody like Neji or something into a violent drunkard.  
  
I'll update when I can. I've got the next couple chapters planned out, and I think I know where the overall story is going. But if each chapter turns out to be as long as this one, I don't know how often I'll finish each one.  
  
Edit: Fixed some formatting issues, and clarified the ages for people. 


	2. I'll show you clown!

Disclaimer: The Naruto concept is owned by Kishimoto. This specific story, and any original characters contained within, are mine.

The Last Step: I'll show you clown!

***

Previously on The Last Step: Naruto discovered, quite on accident, that he's somehow become the Jounin leader of a rookie team of Genin. How did that happen? And how soon can he fix it?

***

Naruto gaped at the sign on the door. This had to be a mistake. It had to. Naruto couldn't see how it could be anything /but/ a mistake. No way. This just couldn't be happening.

How in the world did Konohamaru expect Naruto, of all people, to find three Genin and somehow, miraculously, forge them into a strong, bonded, team? You needed somebody like Kakashi, or Iruka for that. Hinata could do it. Lee could do it. Hell, Naruto acknowledged. Even that bastard Sasuke would be able to identify the strong and weak points of a team, and know how to fix them.

Naruto couldn't do any of that. He just saw a problem, and somehow, he always managed to fix it. His solution wasn't always the cleanest, or the most elegant. But it tended to work out. How could a team work with that? How could that simple ability lend itself to creating a team out of four ninjas, who probably aren't even any good?

Come to that…/were/ the ninjas on his (shudder) team any good? Naruto read the names again, trying to connect faces.

Nara Shikashi. "Not bad…", Naruto muttered to himself. "He's probably just as lazy as his father, but if he's even half as intelligent, he could be a useful guy to have around. Maybe he'll teach me that neato Kagemane no Jutsu Shikamara knows." Naruto smiled slightly, and shook his head. No way anybody was letting that technique out of the Nara clan, any more than Naruto would teach some random ninja off the street how to do Rasengan. That technique taught to him by the Pervert-Sennin was as close to a Blood technique as anything Naruto had. He'd no more give it up than Sasuke or Hana give up their Sharingan, and he didn't blame them.

The next name also struck a chord of familiarity. Inuzuka Kimiko. Naruto remembered her, too. Quiet girl, he recalled. What was her dog's name? Midomaru, that was is. "If she can use weapons as well as her mother and track as well as her father, she'll be pretty useful, too. I just hope she's not as obnoxious as Kiba is, though". Naruto shuddered slightly. Kiba, while good intentioned, could often be a complete jerk because he just failed to pick up on subtle hints. Just yesterday, Naruto had been /trying/ to have a conversation with Hinata, and Kiba felt the need to inform them that there was a flower. In the woods. "Thank you, Kiba", snickered Naruto, thinking back. "A flower in the woods. Who'da thunk?"

Still. Despite his faults, Kiba was a strong ninja, and any child of his was bound to be useful, somewhere.

The third name, now. "A…bu…ra… Kutsu?" Naruto scratched his head. "Who the hell is that?"

A surly voice answered. "It's me, clown-boy. Nice face paint you got there". Naruto looked at the now open door, and at the Genin leaning against the frame. 

"It's not facepaint, /Genin/". The emphasis on the word was obvious. Naruto was pulling his rank, and the privileges it entitled him to. Most notably, respect from Genins. Naruto wasn't about to take any crap from any old kid, not even in his teens, who thought Naruto's fashion choices were ill made. "It's a tattoo. It helps me concentrate. And it freaks out my opponent. And I /like/ it. I got it from a friend of mine. So if it bugs you, then you can beat me in a fight. Then, and only then, will you get to make fun of me".

Naruto leaned close, his voice dripping with sugar. "Until then…" he whispered, "You can keep your lousy opinions to yourself". 

The Genin narrowed his eyes, obviously unimpressed. "Fine", he muttered. "Don't see how I'm supposed to learn anything from a clown, though." Naruto smacked him in the head for that one. Other than that, he didn't bother to respond. Naruto felt no need to try and explain exactly why he had red ink outlining his lips, and arrowing around his eyes.

"Um…are you our teacher?" Kimiko asked, quietly. Naruto looked at her for a moment before hopping up on the table in the middle of the room. 

"I am, for now, your Jounin instructor. I do no~" He was interrupted by Kutsu again.

"What do you mean, /for now/? Are you ditching us to some other Jounin?" Naruto smiled icily at the boy, waiting for a full ten seconds before responding. Just to spite him; the elder Ninja could see the signs of impatience and boredom in the Genin's eyes. The longer Naruto dragged this out, the more it would bother the annoying child.

"I mean for now, because you still need to pass a test in order to truly become Genin. If the three of you can pass the test, then I'll accept you as my team and I'll train you. If not…" Naruto trailed off and allowed the twelve-year olds to supply what came next. He grinned even wider, now. "That's right. Back to the academy for another year, all three of you."

Kutsu glared defiantly at him. 'That jerk', he thought. "I'll pass your test", he stated coldly. "I'll pass any test you want me to. I have to."

Inwardly, Naruto smiled. Somehow, this kid's determination reminded the Jounin of himself at the same age. Ready to do something, /anything/ to get people to recognize him. He didn't know what this kid's beef with life was, but it must be something pretty important.

"Um…I'll help you", whispered Kimiko. "I don't quite understand what's going on, but Kutsu and I are a team, right? We didn't really talk much in the academy, but….Didn't Hokage-sama say that we should always help out our team members?" She glanced at Shikashi. He was sleeping, it looked like.

Kutsu walked over and pulled the desk out from underneath him. "Wake up, bozo!", he shouted into Shikashi's ear. Slowly, an eye opened. 

"You seem pretty annoying, but like the quiet girl said. You're my teammate. It's going to be troublesome, but it's my duty to back you up in something like this." Shikashi closed his eye again, perfectly content in his contorted position on the floor. 

Naruto laughed. "Well, at least you've got that part down." Now, he sobered up. "I'll meet the three of you tomorrow at twelve sharp, at the bridge across the river".

Two heads nodded. One head just snored.

Now, Naruto had something a bit more pressing to do.

***

"I swear, Naruto! You were the only-erk!"

Konohamaru didn't have many things he wanted. A nice home. A nice wife. The title of Hokage.

Right now, all he wanted was for his feet to be back on the ground. 

Simple pleasures….Until something's gone missing, you always take it for granted. Internally, Konohamaru swore he would never take the absence of Naruto's hands around his neck for granted ever again. 

Promise.

"Please let go of me now?" Konohamaru pleaded. Naruto growled into his face. "I'll take that as a 'no', then", Konohamaru muttered. 

"You assigned me as a teacher. A Jounin teacher. For a team of /genin/." Naruto just couldn't get over that fact. "How could you do that to me? That'll take up /years/ of my time." Seeing the terror on Konohamaru's face, Naruto relented a bit. "Well, not really. I get to test them one last time before they become Genins. I'll just fail them, and you can put them together with a /different/ teacher next year. How's that?" Naruto smiled at Konohamaru, letting him know this wasn't a big issue.

"Naruto…" Konohamaru looked at the ground, unsure of how to phrase this. "I want you to give them a chance. Seriously. They're all good ninjas, in their own right. I mean, it's the son of Shikamaru. The guy's a freaking genius, his son has to be at least passable." Naruto nodded, he had made the same observation. "And Kimiko is pretty quiet, but if you push her enough, she's incredible. She's got some amazing talent, she just doesn't want to use it. And Kutsu…He reminds me of you, in a way. Not always the best, right now. But he tried the hardest. To be honest…"

Konohamaru leaned close, getting ready to whisper something in Naruto's ear.

"I'm a little worried about the kid. He's either the clumsiest ninja I've ever seen, or there's something funny going on at his house. He comes in every couple of days with a new bruise. I asked him about it once, and he made it pretty clear that it was none of my business. I mean, I'm only his academy teacher. He's got parents, so there's not much I can do. I'd rather respect his wishes. But if you could just keep an eye on him? For me"

Konohamaru looked Naruto squarely now. "If you do…I'll buy you a bowl of Ramen. Anything. Just give them a chance, okay?"

Naruto shook his head and sighed. 

"Okay, fine. Only for you. And only a chance."

The teacher smiled, knowing the fish had eaten the bait. "That's all I'm asking."

***

"This sucks. Where is he? He said meet at twelve sharp, right?"

"May…maybe he's just running a little late?"

"A little? It's been two hours. That's two hours I could have spent in bed. I skipped my breakfast to get here on time, and now he's late."

Kutsu glared at the lazy boy. "Then get up a little earlier, bum. And stop complaining."

Shikashi swiveled his head to look at Kutsu. "Stop complaining?", he muttered. "Why? I've been waiting here for two hours. I think that gives me the right to bellyache a bit."

Kutsu shook his head. "No. This might be the test. To see how long we can wait without complaining. If it is, I don't want to fail because you got up too late to eat your breakfast."

"…it's been two hours, man. The test would have been over by now." Shikashi's voice contained obvious disbelief that somebody could be so…weird. A test? Waiting? What sort of lousy test was that?

Just as Kimiko was about to interject with her comments, a loud voice interrupted the exchange.   
  
"Sorry I'm late, guys. I was walking down the road, and I saw a little old lady trying to cross the street. How could I, a Konoha Jounin, let her go unaided? It's my civic duty to~" Naruto paused, surprised at the lack of response. 

"First of all, there are no little old ladies like that in Konoha. Second of all, the streets aren't that dangerous. And third, it doesn't take two hours to help somebody across a road. If nothing else, you could just pick her up and carry her." Shikashi ticked off points on his fingers, a bored and irritated look on his face.

"Yeah, sure. So maybe I exaggerated a little bit. My only justification is that /somebody/ has to do the navel contemplation around here." Naruto sniffed, obviously put out. Not even Sakura had bothered refuting Kakashi's excuses as solidly as that. She normally just shouted "Liar" at him, and left it at them.

Kutsu shot a glare at both Shikashi and Naruto. "Can we just get on with the test? I've got things I need to do today, so let's hurry up and finally become real ninjas." 

Naruto looked at him curiously. "Confident, aren't we? How about I explain the test before you assume that you've passed." He jumped onto a tall pole. "Follow me to the testing grounds, and I'll tell you what's up."

He disappeared.

Kutsu looked around for a moment, then kicked the post in anger. "Great," he shouted. "How are we supposed to follow him if we can't see him when he moves?"

"Um…he went that way." Kimiko pointed. Both Skikashi and Kutsu looked at her. 

"How can you tell?", asked Shikashi.

Kimiko gave a small grin, the first either of the boys had ever seen. "Midomaru can smell him." She said, indicating the dog perched on her shoulder. 

Kutsu gaped. "You talk to that dog?" he questioned. Kimiko tilted her head at him.

"Doesn't everybody?"

***

"Took you guys long enough to get here." Muttered Naruto. Kutsu ignored the dig at their speed. He had more important things to worry about. 

"Well, we're here now. So what's the test?" he panted. Going that fast was exhausting, even if only for a little bit.

Naruto indicated around the area. "You three will go inside that fort over there. Maps are inside. In the middle room, there's a scroll. Your goal is to protect the scroll at all costs. You'll have a half hour to plan and set traps, then I'm coming in after you. Keep the scroll out of my hands for one hour after I come in, and you pass. If I get the scroll, then you fail. Simple, no?"

Kimiko tentatively raised her hand. "Um, Naruto-sensei? Are there any rules on what jutsus we can or can't use?"

Naruto laughed. "Nah.." he said. "Use whatever you want to. I will."

Kimiko shivered, aware of how many jutsus a Jounin knew. She may never have seen Naruto fight, but she'd heard stories from her dad. She knew that Naruto-sensei had some sort of special Bunshin jutsu, but her father had mentioned that his biggest strength was his complete determination.

***

_"Naruto's got plenty of strong jutsus, there's no doubt about that. His chakra level is sky high, as far as I can tell. And he's pretty smart, for all that he failed the academy three times."_

_Kiba__ bonked his daughter on the forehead, calling her attention to his words, not brushing her puppy. _

_"But remember this, Kimiko. The thing which makes Naruto so completely strong is the fact that he never gives up. He could have any sort of handicap or injury you could possibly imagine, and he'd still get up and fight any opponent. Not a moment's hesitation. If you could ever have even half of that determination, then you'd be unstoppable. _

_That's the key to strength, Kimiko. Never give up your goal."_

***

Wordlessly, the three almost-Genin turned and entered the fort.

With deliberate intensity, they collected their maps and began discussing strategy, Shikashi pointing key areas to defend, Kimiko elaborating on what little she knew about Naruto-sensei, and Kutsu giving suggestions on whatever he could. 

The clock kept on ticking.

***

Naruto had his eyes closed. Listening, listening…now.

Turning, he pulled a kunai out of its holster and hurled it at a tree. He smiled at the result.

Pinned perfectly through the veins were six leaves. Evidence of his previous attempts littered the other trees, kunai with five, four, three, and so on leaves underneath them. 

Naruto closed his eyes again, ready to try for seven.

Listening, listening….now.

Again, he turned and pulled the kunai from its holster. Just as he began to hurl it, a shrill electronic beeping distracted him.

::BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP::

Cursing, Naruto fumbled at the watch. He finally threw the kunai into a tree after he almost cut off his hand. Only then did he finally find the elusive "stop" button. 

He swore those things moved around. 

Well, mostly he just swore. But he did think they moved.

Now that the watch was turned off, he remembered what the alarm was for in the first place.

Smiling viciously, he began walking towards the entrance.

***

Kutsu shivered with anticipation. Naruto was coming, he knew it. And when he got here, Kutsu would show him! There was no way he could fail this test. Not after leaving his house. Unless he was an official ninja, he'd be sent back into his father's custody for another year. 

It wasn't a fate Kutsu wanted to think about. And nor did he need to. Because today, Kutsu would defeat anything this clown threw at him!

A tapping sound brought Kutsu out of his internal reverie. He glanced down from where he was supporting himself above the jamb for the door, and saw a pebble. He waited.

A head poked itself in. It was covered in a shaggy mess of blonde hair. Kutsu reached down and light as a feather, brushed the very tips of the hair.

Yep. It was a real body, not just a bunshin. Kutsu waited just a moment longer, then attacked. Like a hawk, he jumped on the back of the clown-ninja. Quickly, he wrapped his legs around the Jounin's torso, and grabbed at the sleeves, intending to tie them shut. As soon as he hit the clown-ninja, he remembered what Kimiko had told him. 'Oh yeah. Can't he make solid clones or something?'

The elder ninja disappeared with a /pop/, and Kutsu fell to the ground.

"Obviously you've never seen my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It's useful in situations like this. Wheras the Bunshin no Jutsu simply creates a chakra illusion of a body, the Kage Bunshin actually creates a real, living body. Since it actually exists, it can make blows- and take them. So it helped me out, here."

God, Kutsu hated that irritating drawl. He sprang up from the floor into a ready position, cursing himself for falling for such an obvious trap.

Rather, he flopped a bit on the ground, and Naruto chuckled. "You didn't notice me tying you up, either. Don't worry, though. That's not a special jutsu; that's just you being inattentive."

Naruto crouched, looking Kutsu straight in the eye, still with a stupid clown-smile on his face. "Now…I hope you don't mind if I borrow your face for a bit?"

Kutsu would have replied but for the gag which had somehow gotten in his mouth. 'Jeez. This guy is fast', came a strangely detached thought. Of course, there wasn't much else to do. None of the basic escapes he had been taught at the academy had prepared him for a knot like this. He couldn't even see it. All he could do was watch Naruto perform Henge no Jutsu, turning into a stunning likeliness of himself. 

Naruto stood up, checking himself over to make sure the Henge no Jutsu had worked correctly. Satisfied, he trotted off down the hall. 

***

Shikashi looked around the room, making sure everything was in place. No matter how often Kutsu insisted that Naruto wouldn't get past him, Shikashi knew better. It didn't matter how good of a Genin Kutsu was. Naruto was a Jounin. No Genin could possibly have a hope of beating a Jounin, the difference in skill level was simply too great.

Shikashi didn't think that the team could keep Naruto away from the scroll for even half an hour. But it was important to Kutsu that the team pass this test, for whatever reason. Shikashi intended to help him get there.

His eyes shifted to the right, meeting those of Kimiko. Despite her quiet attitude, he noticed that she knew quite a bit about general ninjutsu, and had the ability to pull off more jutsu that many of the other Genin in her class. She knew, in fact, more jutsu than Shikashi did. 'If she could figure out how to apply them, she'd be a shoo-in for Chuunin, even though she's a rookie', mused Shikashi.

Again, his eyes roamed over the array of traps set up around the pedestal with the scroll on it.  He knew he was being paranoid, but he was going up against a Jounin. The only one of his abilities they knew about was his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Naruto would probably send one of those solid 'shadow' clones into the room ahead of him, as he had most likely done when he entered the building. Shikashi hoped that Kutsu had remembered that.

***

Kutsu was dining on fruits and meats with beautiful ladies serving him.

Well, okay. There weren't any meats. And to be honest, the fruit hadn't ripened in time.

Okay, fine. The serving ladies weren't all that beautiful. In fact, they were rather homely.

If you wanted to get technical, they weren't actually anything at all.

Kutsu lay on the ground, fiercely imagining fruits, meats, and beautiful ladies.

"C'mon" he muttered, having spit out the gag. "All I want is a single slice of pork. Okay, how about an apple? An apple slice? A grape? A grape /slice/?" 

Kutsu's imagination was entirely too miserly, he decided.

God, he wished he had remembered that technique.

***

Kutsu-Naruto stuck his head in the door. "Hey, guys!" he called. "I thought of a great idea!" Shikashi approached him cautiously. It could be just Kutsu being stupid, he thought. Then again, it's more likely that it's Naruto using Henge. Shikashi thought hard. Could the Kage Bunshin use Chakra coils? He didn't know, but he thought it would be safer to assume so.

"Why aren't you at the door?" he asked guardedly. Kutsu shrugged in apology. 

"He got past me. You were right, I wasn't strong enough. But anyway, I thought of a great idea to keep the scroll away from him." Shikashi raised a brow in a questioning look.

"Care to explain?" he asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the stone pattern on the wall shifting and rippling. 'Odd' he noted. Still keeping his eyes on the Bunshin, a part of his mind detached itself to think about the wall. 

'It's rippling. That would indicate somebody's there. It's not Kimiko, she's waiting outside the eastern door for my signal. So what…' the part of his mind struck on the solution. 

"-I'll take the scroll, and replace it with something else. Do you have a blank one?"

With half a brain, Shikashi listened to the proposed plan. At the same time, he was forming one of his own. The Bunshin frowned. "Hey. Are you listening?"

Shikashi didn't even bother to respond. As quick as he could, he whipped a throwing kunai into the Bunshin's head. It disappeared, much like he suspected. As he franticly made the hand seals for Kagemane no Jutsu, he noted with detachment that the Kage Bunshin could indeed use chakra, for at least a simple Jutsu like Henge. 

As he stretched his shadow out to the rippling section of the wall, he shouted for Kimiko, "NOW!

The two shadows connected, and the real Naruto blurred into vision. Shikashi relaxed slightly. His chakra would hold out for around forty seconds, more than enough time for Kimiko to finish tying the Jounin up. Despite the fact that he was in a bad position, Naruto smiled.

"So you saw through my Kagehensou no Jutsu [1]? Better than I expected." Shikashi moved his hands to make them easier to tie, and a small orb fell to the ground. Naruto's smile grew shark-like. "However, your Kagemane no Jutsu depends on shadows." 

Shikamaru put two and two together, and screwed his eyes shut while calling for Kimiko to do the same. Before he could complete the thought, the flashbang went off, and the shadows went away.

Kimiko didn't react fast enough, so she would be light-blind for at least a minute or two. Shikashi franticly backpedaled, grabbing the scroll. Intellectually, he knew it was hopeless. The instant the flashbang lit, the Genin had lost. In his mind, he knew that.

But he'd be damned if he was going to give up just like that. Quickly, he dropped a smoke bomb to cover his escape.

***

Naruto streaked down the halls, looking for Shikashi. "The kid couldn't have gotten that far away yet. I should be seeing him in just a moment…" Naruto wheeled around a corner and ran straight into his target. A small part of his brain saw that Kutsu was lying on the floor, still tied up. The rest of his mind was occupied with pilfering the scroll out of Shikashi's pocket.

The Nara stuck a quick blow at Naruto's face, but it never connected. Naruto shifted his weight to one leg, stuck the other in between Shikashi's, and gave a quick twist. The Genin fell to the floor in a heap, and Naruto wasted no time in tying him up. The kid had proven himself to be smart, the Jounin didn't want any more last minute surprises. Now that the threat had been neutralized, Naruto looked triumphantly at the scroll in his hand. 

"Well", he said, "I guess that wraps it up. I win, you lo-" A look of suspicion flitted across Naruto's face.

Slowly, he unwrapped the scroll, inspecting the inside. It wasn't the technique scroll he had put there that morning.

"I guess you already thought of the plan I suggested", Naruto mentioned idly. "Care to tell me where you hid it?" Shikashi looked at Naruto with defiance in his eyes. Kutsu did the same thing, except with bewilderment.

Naruto closed his eyes and ran his hands along Shikashi's body. The gesture was deliberate, and everybody understood the significance. Naruto was frisking the genin for any more scrolls. Satisfied that Shikashi didn't have it, Naruto moved to the next closest ninja. Kutsu began thrashing, attempting to keep Naruto away. That smile, that damn smile, came back.

A hand darted into Kutsu's pocket, and came out not nearly as empty as it had come in. Naruto unrolled this scroll as well, and his face glowed. There was the technique, just like he wrote it. The scroll closed with a snap, and Naruto surveyed the two genin in front of him.

"I'm happy to say", he announced, "That all three of you fail."

***

Coming up: "You will not lay a hand on this boy". His voice was cold and unemotional. "Oh yeah? Who the hell are you?" The response was filled with acid. "His teacher."

***

[1]: Kagehensou no Jutsu: Shadow Disguise Technique. The user channels their chakra to blend in with their surroundings. While using this technique, it's impossible to be seen straight on; only out of the corners of their eye will skilled Ninja notice a rippling effect. Variation on the Henge no Jutsu.

The facepaint-tattoo thing that Kutsu keeps on mentioning isn't something I made up. In one of the books about Naruto, there's a foldout picture of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke as adults. Naruto has red lines outlining his lips, and three lines connect in an arrow pattern at the inside corner of his eyes, then the lines arch up his forehead. Looks kinda weird, but there you go. I don't know what the point of the tattoo is, but it doesn't appear to be all that uncommon for ninja to have tattoos on their face. Kankuro, Gaara, the entire Akimichi clan, the entire Inuzuka clan, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru all have marks on their face of some sort. My guess is it's either a personal statement (in the case of Gaara) or perhaps it helps them channel their chakra, or perform some special technique. I honestly don't know. For now, I'll say that the tattoo helps Naruto do something cool, although I haven't quite decided what, though. I do have some ideas, so maybe I'll use it in a future chapter.

Okay. Now, I want to thank everybody for the incredible response I got to the first chapter. I think it's somewhere around 27 or 28 reviews?

Wow. Seriously, guys. That really does mean a lot to me. Even if you just said something simple like "Great story, keep it up", it really made my day. That's part of why I worked hard to get this chapter out quickly. There were a couple questions people asked in their reviews, all of which I'll get to later.

So how do you like this chapter? One person mentioned that I used one or two sentence paragraphs pretty often in the first one, so I tried to work on that a bit during this chapter. Does it flow well? Overall, I'd say that I liked the first chapter a bit better, but that might just be me. Did you guys notice a difference? Was it better or worse? I'm honestly looking for input, here. This will affect how I write the rest of the story.

Okay. I know I didn't make it quite clear in the last chapter, so here's a list of who's with who and so on. Naruto, Shino, Hinata, Konohamaru, and Lee are all single. Sakura and Sasuke are married, with one boy, Uchiwa Hana, 16. Blame his mother for the name. Shikamaru and Ino are married, with one girl, Inoka, 16, and one boy, Shikashi, 12. Kiba and Tenten are married with one girl, Kimiko, 12, and one boy, Shogo, 8. Nobody else has really made huge appearances yet. If they do, I'll update you as to their marital status.

Okay. Yes, Kiba and Tenten are together. Yes, I know it's weird. I don't know if I'll write a fic about it. A couple people have mentioned it, so there's obviously interest. I'll keep the idea bouncing around in my brain. If anything comes up, I'll write it down and post it for you guys.

And for the stuff about the ages: Rather than make a long explanation here, I just went and edited the first chapter a bit to explain it. In a nutshell: Naruto is mid-thirties, Tsunade is pushing 70. It's all explained in the chapter. If it really bugs you, you can go back and read it. Anybody know how long the fourth was in office?

Okay, I guess that wraps it up. I'll see you guys again when I finish the next chapter, I guess.


	3. On a scale of one to Crap!

The Naruto concept is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This specific story concept, and any original characters contained within, are mine.

Before I say anything about the story, there are a couple reviewers who I feel the need to mention. The first is Xoni Newcomer, who gave me a thoughtful and helpful review of the first chapter. The second is Rashaka, who gave me a thoughtful and helpful review of the second chapter. I'm in awe of you two. You've both given me some great advice, and I feel the need to thank you.

Of course, I'm glad for everybody else who reviews, too. Even just "Love your story, keep up the good work" is great and really makes my day. I'd list all you guys, but there's simply too many for me to name. 

The Last Step: "On a scale of one to CRAP!"

***

Previously on Last Step: After learning that Naruto has to lead a team of Genin, he refuses by giving them an impossible test. When the team fails the mission he gave them, he wastes no time in sending them back to the academy for another year.

***

_"I'm happy to announce that all three of you fail"_. 

Naruto kept on replaying those words in his head. His futon felt lumpy, so he fluffed it. Lay down again. Still lumpy. He fluffed it again. Still lumpy. Again, he fluffed it. This was getting tiresome.

That defeated look in Kutsu's eyes had been the worst part. Naruto knew that look, he'd had it himself so many times before. He had it almost every day as a child, though he masked it with a smile, a wink, and a prank. That look meant that something deep inside Kutsu had been crushed, a dream or a hope. Naruto looked like that each time he failed the academy. The knowledge that he had brought it on somebody else tore him up inside.

'This sucks', he scowled. 'I'm not getting any sleep this way. My head's too busy feeling sorry for that punk kid'.

Sitting up, Naruto decided to go for a midnight stroll. Maybe the night air would help clear his mind and give him some much needed rest.

***

Kutsu checked over his pack one last time. Kunai, pen light, key, matches, food, blanket, rope. Yep, he had everything. Slipping the pack over his shoulders, he cinched the straps tight and headed out of the alley he was hiding in. 

He had failed the exam. So he wasn't a Genin. So he wasn't a ninja. So he couldn't legally live away from his father. So he had to go back to that…place. 

Kutsu shook his head to rid himself of that thought. No way was he going back there, to that slobbering drunk. That pig who dared call himself Kutsu's father. If the only legal option was to live with his father, then Kutsu was leaving. He couldn't stand a single day more with that abusive jerk.

Jumping onto a roof, he began the trek across the village towards his house. Just a quick stop to pick up a couple important things, then he'd leave. Maybe he'd become a hermit, like that Jiraiya guy everybody talked about. Or maybe he could go join one of the other villages. 

Kutsu really didn't care what happened, as long as his father wasn't part of the equation. 

So intent on his task was Kutsu, that he didn't even notice the black lump as he sped by it. The lump, being a much higher caliber ninja than Kutsu, did. 

***

Naruto frowned to himself quizzically. 'What the hell is that kid doing out here at this hour? It's got to be around two, shouldn't he be asleep? Where are his parents?'

It was mostly curiosity, but more than a little bit of guilt made Naruto follow that boy, that night. 'Just to see what he's doing', the Jounin reasoned. 'Then I'll leave him alone. I doubt I'm somebody he wants to talk to right now.' Naruto jumped over another roof, and caught himself. 'jeez', he thought. 'I'm trying to trail this kid, and I'm almost beating him to wherever we're going. That'd be a scene, wouldn't it?' For a moment, Naruto almost laughed at the comical thought. He sobered up and hopped another roof when Kutsu managed to get a respectable distance away. 

Can't let humor get in the way of business, after all.

***

Kutsu smiled to himself. 'Finally', he thought. It had seemed like forever, but he finally managed to make it to his ho…his /former/ house. He didn't live there anymore, so he couldn't call it his house. So technically, he was breaking and entering. But technicalities had never bothered Kutsu before.

He jumped onto the roof of his old house, and began searching around for the skylight he knew was there. Finding it, his scrabbling hands searched blindly for the lock. Finally, he remembered the penlight, which he had packed for exactly this reason. Taking a quick look around to make sure he was unobserved (Naruto casually activated his Kagehensou no Jutsu. No need to move, when he could do a cool trick like that. He created the jutsu, and he was going to use it as often as he damn well could, thank you very much.) Seeing nobody (Inwardly, Naruto smirked. He loved it when his jutsus worked.), Kutsu quickly opened the lock, slid open the window, and entered the house. After a moment, Naruto followed him. 'Only to see what he's doing', he told himself.

***

Kutsu switched off the penlight now that he was in familiar territory. He could navigate this house blind as a bat, and almost as quickly. With light, padding steps, he made his way to the room which was once his, and silently slid open the door. Still using his Jutsu, Naruto sidled in after him.

The penlight flicked on, and Naruto winced. 'That's completely amateur', he thought. 'Doesn't this kid know some sort of localized light jutsu? I could teach him one in about ten min-' He cut that thought off. He had been given that option, and turned it down. Wasn't that what he wanted? He didn't have time to be teaching some punk genin who made fun of his face. He had better things to do.

Didn't he?

Kutsu sucked in a quick breath as he found what he was looking for, and Naruto brought himself out of the internal monologue. 'The kid came here for a dumb picture?' he asked. 'What could be so important that he'd actually break into somebody's house for it [1]?' Naruto got his answer in one mumbled word word. 

"Mama…" A solitary tear slid it's way down Kutsu's cheek, before an adolescent hand wiped it away. The same hand tucked the picture into the pack, and the body it was attached to turned to leave. 'Now that I've got everything, I just need to leave the house, sneak past the border guards, and I'm as home free as I can get'. As he turned, that first task became just a /little/ bit harder.

A raspy voice echoed in the tiny room. "I thought I heard a /rat/ in here. Guess I found it." Kutsu backed up against the wall, thinking about his options. Ninja or not, his father was still a drunk. In his constant state of half-sobriety, was there a chance Kutsu could get away? 

Any hope of that was dispelled when the man lurched forward. There wasn't a hint of alcohol on his breath, for the first time Kutsu could remember in years. "I ran outta money for booze, so I didn't do no drinking today." The old man muttered, half to himself. He looked at the shivering boy, and smiled. "But it looks like you got some nice stuff there. I could probably sell that light for a bottle or a half…care to share the wealth with your dear old dad?" A smile revealed crooked and yellow teeth.

Kutsu panicked. This hadn't been in the plan at all! He threw the flashlight at his dad's face, and prepared to bolt. He didn't notice his tunnel vision on the door until he completely missed the backhand. It caught him straight across the face, and Kutsu spun with the force, trying to gain his bearings. He hadn't expected to fight, he wasn't prepared for this! His father roared and picked him up by the shirt, obviously preparing to hit him again. "Damn runt! I'll teach you to throw things at me!"

Kutsu shrieked, and he almost drowned out the quiet voice which floated through the chaos. Almost, but not quite.

"You will not touch that boy." It was a voice of command, carrying a threat which was so obvious, it didn't even need to be spoken. Two heads swiveled in almost comical unison towards a wall which had recently begun talking. As both Kutsu and his father searched the wall for the source of that intimidating voice, Naruto shimmered into view behind them. He tapped the father on the shoulder lightly, and whispered into his ear, "That means put him down." 

Kutsu's father jumped almost a foot into the ground, dropping the child in a heap. As quickly as he could, Kutsu crab-walked away to the door, but Naruto stopped him with a glance. "You're not quite out of this yet," he warned. Kutsu froze. That wasn't a voice you wanted to mess with.

Now that the attention was off of himself, the father regained his bearings. Swaggering up to the smaller gentleman with the funny face paint, he attempted to establish his dominance. "Hey! Who're you, coming in here and messing with me? You're breaking and entering, you know. I could kill you and claim self defense, and nobody would be able to say a word!" For extra effect, he spit in Naruto's face.

The Jounin glared at the man of questionable rank. Not even bothering to wipe off his face, he smiled slightly. "You could try," he said casually. "But you'd fail. And it looks like I could prove you've been lax in your duties as a guardian of this child. You'd probably contest the accusation, so it's end up in the Hokage's lap. And once it gets there, you'll lose. So I'm probably not somebody you want to mess with."

The man backed off slightly, stunned by the balls this shaggy blond had. Pointing an accusatory finger at him, the father decided to try to bluff his way out. "HAH! You think I'd lose? Guess you didn't know that the Hokage herself has taken a liking to me. There's no way she'd believe that I've been lax in my duties." 

If anything, Naruto's smile grew wider and more sharklike. "Really? That's funny. I talk to Tsunada-baba all the time, and she's never mentioned you. But, since it looks like you want to keep this out of the Hokage's way, I'll let you fight me."

With a quick gesture, Naruto summoned ten Kage Bunshin. His hand swept across the room, indicating the clones. "My strength is spread evenly through each clone. I'm not sure if you can work basic math with that puny brain of yours (the man blinked, obviously not understanding), so I'll clarify. Each of these bunshin is only one tenth as strong as I am. You can play with them while Kutsu and I go have a talk."

The man growled. "Who are you to come barging in here and taking my son?" he demanded, attempting to push his way through the clones. 

Naruto winked at him. "I'm his teacher." 

A clone reached out an arm and pulled the man back into the group. "Hold on there, big man. We haven't even started playing yet."

Kutsu's father looked at the clone. He knew it was an illusion. It had to be. Bunshin no Jutsu could only make illusions.

Now he looked down at the distinctly not-illusionary arm holding onto his sleeve.

The last thought he had before a fist reached out and broke his nose was something along the lines of, "What in the hell is going on?"

After his nose was broken, he didn't do too much thinking. Mostly just a lot of crying, really. The Naruto clones leered at him, and he shrank down, protecting his head with his arms. A quiet voice whispered close in his ear.

"We'll make you a deal. If you close your eyes and don't open them until you count to eleven million, we won't break every bone in your body."

After that, the only noise in the room was pretty monotonous. "One…two…three…four.."

Kutsu's father was in for a long night.

***

"DUDE! That was incredible! You scared the pants off of him!"

Naruto did his best to shut out the exultations of Kutsu. At the same time, Kutsu was doing his best to get Naruto's attention. 

Yep. It was a classic case of "Irresistible Force Meets Immovable Object". One of them would have to crack, sooner or later…

"Would you shut up?"

There went the Immovable Object…

Naruto glared at Kutsu, searching for somebody other than himself to take his anger out on. He hadn't wanted to teach the genin. He knew that. It just wasn't something he had the time to do. But now he'd gone and publicly accepted the job of teacher, and there was no backing out.

And he wanted to blame it on Kutsu, dammit. He wanted to blame it on Kutsu's father, or whoever that jerk was. But internally, he knew he couldn't. He'd been perfectly rational when he made the statement. He hadn't been crazy. It wasn't anybody's fault but his.

And was it really such a bad thing, to be a teacher?

Naruto's face visibly relaxed, and he studied Kutsu. "Hey kid", he intoned. "Do you have a place to sleep? It looks like you don't want to go back to wherever you were before, if that was really your house."

Kutsu nodded, eyes studying something interesting on the ground. "I found a tree over by the park, and I've got a blanket and some string. I'll just rig up a hammock for tonight, and find an apartment tomorrow, or something."

Naruto shook his head sadly, and bonked the child on the head. "No way", he stated officially. "No student of mine is going to be homeless, even for a single day." The Jounin grabbed Kutsu's arm, and began dragging him along towards an unknown destination. "For tonight, you're sleeping in my house. Tomorrow after training, we'll go out and find you an apartment." 

Kutsu blinked and tried to understand what was happening. He…was getting a home? Somebody was willingly going to give up some of their personal space, for him? It was only for one night, but still. His eyes threatened to tear up, and Kutsu only managed to squeak out one small word as he was dragged along. "Why…?"

Naruto glanced down at him, an open smile on his face. "Because you're just like me", he answered softly.

***

Kutsu's eyes slowly opened, and he fuzzily tried to both wake up and figure out what the hell was going on, at the same time. It didn't quite work out.

This wasn't the tree he was planning to sleep on. Nor, however, was it his futon in his old home. Was he in jail already? Had he been caught by the Konoha border guards?

"Damn," he muttered. "If this is jail, I should go in more often." His fuzzy thinking was interrupted by a too-loud-for-this-early-in-the-morning voice.

"Wake up, kid. It's almost ten o'clock. We need to go out and get the rest of your team so we can have our first official day of training." Kutsu's head looked around, as his eyes blinked blearily. Oh yeah. He was in Naruto's house, wasn't he? A shirt, jacket, and pants obscured his vision by landing on his head. "Put those on, and be fast about it."

Kutsu took the clothes off of his head, and looked at them. As he put the ensemble on, only a single thought crossed his mind.

"I hate orange."

***

The Genin picked at his jacket. "Why do I need to wear this?" he muttered. Naruto looked at him oddly. 

"What? You don't like it?" Naruto pounded on the door again. "Dammit, Kiba. Get your lazy self up!" The loud barking of a dog indicated success. If a dog was up, so was the rest of them.

Kutsu glared at the innocent door. "No, I don't like it. I don't like orange." Naruto looked at him again, face aghast. 

"How can you not like it? I wore an outfit just like that every day when I was a Genin. Next, you'll be telling me you don't like Ramen." Glancing back at the door, Naruto missed the uneasy smile on Kutsu's face. The oncoming confession was delayed as the door swung open, and a shaggy head stuck itself out the door.

"Naruto? The hell are you doing here?" Kiba yawned, and Akamaru echoed the motion. Naruto smiled apologetically as he placed his hands behind his head.

"Well," he explained, "I'm here to pick up your daughter for training." 

Kiba blinked lazily. "Kimiko?" He said. "I thought she failed the test, or whatever it was. She said she had to go back for another year at the academy."

Naruto smiled slightly. "Yeah, well, I changed my mind. She passes, her team passes, and I'm training them." Kiba blinked lazily, and sighed. Naruto kept his eyes fixed on the man's face; the dog echoing his actions would be just too freaky right now.

"Yeah, okay. I'll go get her." As Kiba began to walk off, he turned around and made one last comment to Naruto. "I'm glad you're her teacher, man. Maybe you can give her some of that determination and confidence you've got in buckets, huh?" Naruto gave him a thumbs up, and Kiba shouted for his daughter. "Oi, Kimiko! Your teacher's here. Turns out you passed the test after all, puppy-dog! Come on, it's training time!"

After a moment, both Kimiko and Midomaru shuffled their way out of the door. Naruto patted her on the head, and the team walked off to find Shikashi.

***

The last member of the team was still in bed, pillow over his ears. He was doing his best to ignore the females of the house. In turn, the females of the house were doing their best to get his attention.

Finally, Ino stalked into his room and grabbed the pillow away from him. "Shikashi, get up. It's almost eleven o'clock, and you need to start training if you want to get into a team next year." Her next comment was muttered, but Shikashi heard it just as well. "Honestly. If only you were more like your sister…"

Internally, Shikashi groaned. He'd heard those words repeated by various people for as long as he could remember. If only he was more like his sister…he'd be a better ninja. He'd be more motivated. He'd be stronger. Faster. Smarter. He'd be more /everything/, if only he was more like his sister.

Finally admitting defeat, Shikashi dragged himself out of bed and began slowly putting on some clothes. A knock at the door brought his mother flitting away to answer it; she knew better than to expect her husband to. Shikashi was in the middle of pulling on his pants, when his mother screeched for him to get downstairs, /now/. In around a minute, he finally ambled his way down. It was a new personal best, but not enough to please his mother. Her dissatisfaction showed quite clearly in her tapping foot.

"Shikashi," she began sharply. "Your /teacher/ is here to train you." The boy blinked questioningly. Looking around his mother to the Jounin, he frowned. "I thought we failed the test. Didn't you say we had to go back to the academy for another year?"

Naruto smiled apologetically, and Kutsu began explaining. Kimiko just hung around behind Naruto, smiling shyly at Shikashi. The dog went up and nudged at his hands, looking for something to pet him. "Well," Kutsu said, "He changed his mind last night, and decided that we passed. So now we're officially ninja, and we get to go on missions, and everything! But for today, we're just going to be doing some basic training exercises."

Shikashi shrugged and exited the house, following his team and teacher. He pointedly ignored his mother, who called after him to "Train hard to be just like your sister, Shikashi-kun!" Naruto gave Shikashi a questioning look, which was equally ignored.

***

"Being a ninja isn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be," muttered Kutsu. He flopped on the ground from exhaustion, and Shikashi soon followed. Kimiko was breathing hard, but chose to sit against a tree rather than lie on the ground. Midomaru curled up at her feet. Both Genin nodded assent to Kutsu's statement.

Naruto jogged up to the Genin, looking as bright and energetic as he had when the four of them /started/ this hellish exercise. "What's wrong, guys? Don't tell me you're beat already!" Shikashi glared at him, and Naruto winced. If looks could kill, that glare would be a weapon banned for war for its utter viciousness. 

"We've been running nonstop, for three hours. Up and down hills. Through creeks and rivers. Carrying, of all things, a /log/." Shikashi emphasized that last word. Naruto grinned at him, apparently oblivious to the murderous intent that all three Genin harbored right now.

"Come on, guys. It's just a log. Not too heavy." 

Kimiko raised her hand. "Um…actually, Naruto-sensei…I think my log weighs more than I do." Naruto looked at her, stunned.

"What? How much do you weigh? That log is only a hundred and twenty-five pounds!" 

Kimiko shrugged. "I weigh one hundred and ten," she muttered. Naruto and the rest of her team stared at her.

"You need to gain some weight, girl. Is that even healthy, being that thin?" Kutsu asked with confusion in his eyes. Again, Kimiko shrugged, but a slight blush tinged her cheeks.

Naruto slapped the ground loudly. "Alright. If you're all really this tired, let's call it a day. We'll meet by the bridge again tomorrow at 10 am sharp, okay?" A stone impacted his head, and a voice called out, "You better be there, teacher. If you keep us waiting more than fifteen minutes, we're skipping out."

Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly, and grinned. "Sure," he said. "I'll do my best to be there on time. Oh…before you all head off, what did you think of your first day of training?"

Shikashi said it first, and quite possibly the best. "On a scale of one to crap," he said, "This day would rank right around the CRAPPY end of the scale." Naruto grinned.

"That's exactly where I wanted it," he said. He dodged another stone, and dismissed the team.

***

"What? That's too expensive. There's no way he can afford that!"

Naruto hung up the phone with more than a little anger, and rubbed his head. After a moment, he asked Kutsu for the next number.

"That's it, Naruto. We've reached the end of the phonebook. Not a single apartment, in all of Konoha, that I can afford on a Genin's pay."

Naruto sighed. "So where do we go from here?", Kutsu questioned. His teacher looked at him. "Well," he said. "I guess you're staying with me for a while. At least until we find something you can afford, that is.."

The whistle of the kettle indicated boiling water, and Naruto went to prepare some instant ramen for him and his new roommate. Said roommate looked around, absorbing the looks of what was apparently going to be his house for a while. He hoped Naruto wouldn't check the phonebook on his own, Kutsu had refrained from giving him the numbers of the cheapest apartment complexes deliberately. He was willing to do it, but living alone didn't seem like such an attractive option, now. Not when he had just gotten the closest thing to a happy family he could ever remember.

A steaming bowl of ramen somehow found its way in front of the boy.

"Eat up," a smiling voice said. "Tomorrow's training will be just as hard as today's, and you need to keep up your strength."

Kutsu wondered if this was what it felt like to be important. Eating ramen with his new teacher, he decided that it must be.

***

Coming next: "I'm sick of weeding gardens. Can't we do something else?" "Be thankful. At least gardens don't fight back."

***

Author's note: [1]: Since Konoha village is filled with ninja who would most likely put lots of traps in their houses to protect their possessions, it seems like breaking and entering would be a pretty stupid thing to do, especially if you're not even a Genin. I'd put it about on par as driving a motorcycle in speeds of excess of 65 mph, while not wearing a helmet, in the rain. It's just asking for trouble. 

Okay. I'm actually really happy with this chapter, just as much as I was with the first. Maybe I'm just not good at action scenes.

So now they're all a team, and Naruto's their teacher. Wow. Bet none of you saw that coming. Kutsu's living with Naruto, now. That may have been more of a surprise.

I tried to develop Shikashi's character a little bit more. I agonized for quite a while over what I could do to make him something other than a carbon copy of his father. I couldn't think of any weird personality quirks or hobbies or anything, until I remembered his sister. I made his sister out to be quite the ninja in the first chapter, and Shikashi has the potential she showed, but none of the drive. It seemed perfectly reasonable that everybody would compare the two of them, and even more reasonable that Ino would constantly be hounding him to be "More like your sister". So there's what makes him different. It's defiantly something I'm going to play with in future chapters, so I'm glad people mentioned the problem to me. The solution is really something I'm happy with.

So what did you guys think? Is this chapter up to the standards of the previous two? By the way, I really need to mention one last thing…I'm incredibly grateful as to the response that this story has been generating. Seriously, you guys. I had twenty five reviews of the first chapter. When I posted the second one, that got doubled in just a day. I've still got reviews coming in, too. It's absolutely incredible. I've never gotten a response like this to something before.

Anybody know what I'm doing to merit such an incredible fanbase? I'm honestly curious, and some other people have been asking, as well.

Oh…probably in a couple days or so, I'll post an author's note chapter. It'll be an ongoing chapter which will answer all the questions that people usually ask me. This will be the only time I update it without also posting a chapter, so don't worry. You won't be getting any 'false alarm' updates. Those tick me off.


	4. A real mission, finally!

The Naruto concept is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This specific story and any original characters contained within are mine.

The Last Step: A real mission, finally!

***

Previously on The Last Step: "I thought we failed." "Well, I changed my mind."---"I guess you're living with me for a while. At least until we find you your own place."

***

Idly, Shikashi wondered if the dirt would ever come out from underneath his fingernails. Picking at them, he decided it wouldn't. The dirt had bonded with his skin, become a permanent part of his flesh. Maybe it'd be gone in seven years or so.

Of course, that'd only happen if he ever stopped weeding these endless gardens. He had gone through a year of ninja training at the academy. He had gone through years of nagging from his mother, years of being in the shadow of his sister. This should be the culmination of his training, should it not?

Kinda sucked that all his training was good for was weeding. If that dandelion ever attacked him, he'd beat it down. If a rose tried to prick him, he'd be taking none of that! Can't let those flowers get uppity, after all. He'd learned /that/ from his mother.

No. He had to be good for more than weeding. He /had/ to. His team had to be.

Shikashi glanced over the table, looking at the other people there. Kimiko was sitting across from him, pointedly looking down at her food. Most certainly was she /not/ looking at Naruto and Kutsu.

Shikashi was less concerned about being seen with the two idiots, and so made no attempt to hide his sly glances.

Well, they weren't really sly glances. They weren't that sly. And they weren't exactly glances.

Alright. Shikashi made no attempt to hide the fact that he was gaping at such utter weirdness. What was his teacher doing?

"I can't believe you don't like ramen! It's the food of angels, Hokages, and other such lovely things!"

"Well, it tastes nasty! It's too salty, and it's too stringy, and it's too chewy, and it's too everything bad!"

Snarling, Naruto inhaled his bowl of ramen and quickly ordered another. Jumbo-super large pork, to be exact. Kutsu snarled back, and ordered another bowl of rice. A small bowl of rice, to be exact. When their food arrived, they began arguing about the merits of each dish. Just like they always did at the end of every completed mission, to be exact.

Shikashi sighed, and buried his head in his hands. Why did he have to be with these people?

A soft giggle brought himself out of his misery, and he looked up. Kimiko was hiding a smile behind her hands, but Shikashi recognized the laughter in her eyes. The blush staining her cheeks didn't escape his notice, either.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked dryly. She smiled at him, and leaned forward. "I'm laughing at Naruto-sensei and Kutsu-kun," she whispered quietly. "They're so funny…" 

Several grains of rice flew across the table and stuck to Naruto's face. Kutsu smirked, and prepared to take a large bite of rice, content in his victory. Ramen noodles flew back, and wrapped themselves around the Genin's chopsticks tightly, binding the two rods together. Naruto wiped off his face and smirked wider. Kimiko collapsed in a fit of giggles, and even Shikashi allowed himself a small smile at the expense of his teammate.

Pushing himself away from the table, Shikashi decided it was time to leave. He'd finished his own bowl of ramen (medium size, prawn) a while ago, and he wanted to go train, if only to get his mother to be quiet when he came home for dinner. Standing up, he announced his intention to exit to the group. He was ignored by two thirds majority, but Kimiko quickly stood up. Curiously, Shikashi noted that there was still the perma-blush, as he had taken to calling it, on her cheek. 

"Um…I'll go train with you, if you like. I'd like to be stronger, and it's always better to train with a partner…If you want, that is…." She trailed off, eyes downcast. Shikashi nodded, and the two teammates walked off together quietly. Naruto paused in his tormenting of his student, and watched the two leave together.

"Interesting." He muttered. Two white haired old men silently echoed his thoughts across the restaurant. Deciding that nothing more would happen, the two men quickly finished their ramen and went off to peek at some ladies. 

***

Uchiha Hana wiped the sweat off his face, and took a look around the clearing. He'd pretty much demolished the biggest trees in the area, and he'd made good progress on destroying the medium sized trees, as well. In another couple of days, all that would be left would be some tiny old spindly trees, and who wanted to practice anything against those? No…when that happened, then Hana would just have to find another area.

Environmentalist, he wasn't.

A noise perked his ear, and he closed his eyes, listening. Two people, young. Unskilled. Probably academy students, or possibly two of the recent batch of graduates. One of the two was carrying far more weapons than he or she needed, judging by the muffled clank the person made as they moved. With that many weapons, they were probably well trained in their use. That would make her a relation to Ten-Ten, renowned through the village as a weapons master. Therefore, the clanker would probably be Ten-Ten's daughter, whatever her name was. Kimi? Kimiro? Kimiko? Yeah, that was it. 

In that case, the person with her would probably be her one of her teammates. Not the loud one, the other one. Wasn't that the other Nara child, the boy? Shikashi, or something?

"What are you doing in my training area, Inuzuka? Nara?" Hana ignored the gasps of surprise. He had yet to turn around, and already, he knew so much about the people behind him.

Sometimes, he loved being a genius. It wasn't something he had chosen, but since he was the offspring of Haruno Sakura, arguably one of the smartest ninja of her generation, and Uchiha Sasuke, arguably one of the strongest ninja of his generation, whatever child they had would be starting off with some pretty major strength. No, it wasn't something Hana had chosen. But it sure was something he liked, most of the time.

A bored and disrespectful voice brought him out of his self-glorification. "/Your/ training area? Sorry; I didn't realize that the Uchiha were so destitute that their son had to find old, worn out sections of forest to train in. Or maybe you're just trying to learn some basic skills, since that's all this area can help you in. Or maybe, you're too weak to beat on anything stronger than a measly old tree." Mocking, now. "Be careful. I hear those trees can be nasty when they topple."

God, the Nara clan was annoying. "For your information," Hana hissed, "I'm busy developing a new jutsu. I'm testing it on trees because I'm afraid that it would /kill/ a person until I have it perfected. Unless you're going to volunteer yourself as a test subject, then you, /both/ of you, can get out of here."

Shikashi snorted. "Tch. Sorry, you'll have to find something else. Can you catch a rabbit? Or will you have to go running to your mother so she can build a trap for you?" Turning, Shikashi began exiting the area. "C'mon, Kimiko. Let's go find somewhere else to train; we can leave the genius to his precious jutsu development." 

As the duo walked away, a kunai thunked into the ground in front of the boy. Hana's voice was low, dangerous. "Dealing with your sister is bad enough," Hana snarled softly. "Until you are of an equal rank as I, you /will/ treat me with the respect I am due as a Chuunin, and therefore your superiour." 

Shikashi saluted mockingly, and walked away, girl and dog in tow. Hana watched him leave angrily. That entire family seemed annoying, he reflected. The sister, especially. She always had to try to be better than him at everything…She was rather cute, though.

Hana shook his head. No time for thoughts like that, especially so close to the Jounin exam. Taking a deep breath, he resumed his training.

***

Kutsu blocked the strike from above, and quickly dropped his arm, blocking the strike from below. He jumped away, panting.

"That was good, Kimiko. A little bit out of synch, though. If Midomaru moves just a little bit faster, then you'll both him simultaneously, and it'll be harder to block."

Kimiko nodded, her eyes glinting in the light. "Okay, Shikashi-kun." She readied herself for another attack, and Shikashi waved his hand weakly.

"Hang on a bit, there. I don't know about you, but I'm tired from all this training. Can we take a break? Just so I can catch my breath?" Kimiko nodded, and relaxed her stance. As Shikashi flopped down onto the grass, she walked over and sat down next to him. Midomaru lazily chased his tail for a moment, then sat down with his head in Kimiko's lap. Absentmindedly, she began to scratch him behind the ears.

"I'm sick of all this garden weeding," Shikashi muttered. Kimiko looked at him, and he continued. "I mean, come on. We've all been through at least a year in the academy. We've all got basic ninja skills. I'm pretty good, you're pretty good, Kutsu's pretty good…So why do we only get to weed gardens? I want to do something real. Something meaningful."

Kimiko hugged herself and shivered. "Be glad," she muttered softly. "Weeds don't fight back." She closed her eyes and sighed. Shikashi looked at her, perplexed.

"What do you mean?" he questioned. She opened her eyes, and glanced at him.

"Have you ever hurt somebody?" Before he could answer, she refined her question. "I mean, have you ever, really, actually physically /hurt/ somebody? Not just a bruise or a scrape, not something that goes away in a week. Something worse that that. Hospital visits. Physical therapy. Months, years of recovery time. Have you ever done that to somebody?"

Shikashi blinked. "No…." he said, slowly. She looked away, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"It's not pretty. And it's all that the jutsus we know can do. We don't know any healing jutsus. All we can do is work towards killing somebody. There's no halfway point, as a ninja. No 'let that be a lesson to you, next time I'll do much worse'. As ninja, our job is to fight, to the death if necessary." She trailed off. Just as Shikashi was about to speak, she started up again. "And when that happens…somebody dies. That's how it always ends. Somebody ends up dead."

A tear trickled down her face, and she turned away from her companion. She gathered up all twenty pounds of puppy next to her and placed it all in her lap. A comforting hand descended on her shoulder, and she started at the contact.

"I don't know what happened, Kimiko-chan" Shikashi placed special emphasis on the honorific. It wasn't often that he used it. "But whatever it was, you must have been just a child. There's no use blaming yourself, because the situation would have certainly been completely out of your hands. No matter what you or anybody else did, you should know that whatever happened was inevitable. So don't worry, okay?"

She turned to face him. He wiped away the tear, and smiled. "So stop crying, okay? A face like that doesn't deserve to have tears on it." She sniffed, and smiled back at him slightly. Midomaru reached up and licked at her cheek, attempting to get her attention back on what was important: petting him. The girl giggled, and Shikashi looked at the sun quickly.

"Aw, crud." He muttered. "I better get back home, or I'll be late for dinner. Then mom'll /really/ be mad at me." He turned to leave, but Kimiko stopped him.

"Um…would you like to train with me again, sometime?" The genin looked back at her, and grinned. 

"I'd love to. Same time tomorrow?" The girl smiled and nodded her assent, while her dog barked out his agreement. Silently, Shikashi left to go home, and Kimiko slowly did the same.

***

"Shikashi, where the hell have you been? You're over half an hour late for dinner. It's sitting cold on the table. You were out weeding gardens today, it couldn't /possibly/ have taken you that long."

Shikashi brushed past his mother and sat down at the table. "I was out training," he muttered. His mother quickly zeroed in on that statement with surprise.

"Training? With who? Is Naruto teaching you something? Pay attention to your teacher, Shikashi. He looks silly, but he's one of the best ninja Konoha has to offer." Shikashi shook his head, and popped the cold shepherd's pie into the microwave oven.

"Nah. I was out training with a teammate. Inuzuka Kimiko." He typed in 45 seconds on the oven.

His mother opened her mouth to respond, and Inoka swept into the room. "Hey, kiddo," she said laughingly. "Heard you had a little run-in with Uchiha Hana today." 

Ignoring his mother's cry of "WHAT?", Shikashi nodded assent. 

"Yeah," he muttered. "Uchiha was beating up on trees in a clearing I found a couple weeks ago. I was planning on doing some training there with a friend, but he apparently had the area specially reserved. We exchanged words, and I decided to look for a different area to train in."

(What's this about you fighting with Uchiha Hana?)

"Heh…He told me to let you know that he thought you were a disrespectful brat."

(He's one of the strongest Chuunins in the village. Did he hurt you?)

"Yeah, well…He's not that polite, either."

(My god! Shikashi-baby, are you okay? Show me where it hurts? Do you want to go to the hospital? Do you need a painkiller?)

"I'll let him know you said that."

Shikamaru ambled into the kitchen and hugged his wife, startling her into silence. "I think that if Shikashi was hurt, then he would have told us, dear. And Uchiha Hana has better sense than to assault a genin. Especially a genin under the protection of Uzumaki Naruto."

Ino pouted. "But….he could have used the Sharingan…and done something horrible! And Shikashi doesn't know how to defend himself against it!"

Shikamaru placed a finger over Ino's lips, quieting her again. The microwave PING-ed, signaling dinnertime, and Shikashi pulled out his plate of pie. He set it on the table and quickly blew on his fingers; that place was hot. Sitting down, he quickly began to eat, blowing on each forkful to cool it before placing it in his mouth.

Inoka stretched, and headed off down the hall. "I'm going to take a bath. Oh…I'll be gone all day tomorrow for a mission, so don't bother cooking dinner for me!" Her mother absentmindedly nodded assent while watering a plant. After a moment, she began questioning her son on the rest of his day. After all, a mother must at least give an effort to stay involved. Right?

***

"Hey there, puppy-dog! You missed dinner, what happened?" Inuzuka Kiba's voice boomed through the house, in stark contrast to his daughter's soft mumble.

"I was out training, and I lost track of the time. I'm sorry, chichi. It won't happen again, I promise."

Kiba laughed, and clapped his daughter on the shoulder. "Well, if you were training, then that's fine. I knew Naruto would treat you right! C'mon, let's go get you some dinner. Something hardy, probably. I bet you're hungry after all that work, right?"

Kiba was so intent on getting his daughter something to eat, he missed her statement that no, it wasn't her teacher who was training her, she was actually training with a teammate. A /male/ teammate.

When it finally sunk in, the following yell boomed through the house even more than it normally did. And normally, it did a lot of booming.

Ten-Ten rubbed her forehead, and reluctantly climbed out of the bath. It appeared that it was time she had a little talk with her husband about her daughter, and exactly how much contact she could have with males her own age. 

Specifically, that would be more than "none". Which was what Kiba wanted. 

Ten-Ten hurriedly wrapped a towel around her body, and stepped out into the hall. If she didn't move quickly, she wouldn't catch her husband until after he went and killed the innocent genin who dared lay a finger on his daughter. Ten-Ten knew instinctively that that would be hell for Kimiko's social life.

***

Naruto looked up from the book he was reading and checked his watch. He should probably start heading over to the bridge, now. He only had a minute and a half to get there.

He set the book down and prepared to leave, when his eyes involuntarily slid back to the book. He'd borrowed it from Kakashi-sensei, and while he wasn't depraved enough to read it in public, he had no problem about reading it in private.

VERY private. 

Aw, what the heck. He could get to the bridge in twenty seconds if he hurried. He walked over to the stool he had set the book on, picked it up again, and began reading where he left off, eyes skimming over the text quickly.

***

"He's over half an hour late," Shikashi grumbled. "Didn't he say that he wouldn't do this, anymore?"

Kimiko looked helplessly at Kutsu. "You're living with him, aren't you?" she implored. "Can't you get him to be here on time?"

Kutsu kicked a post angrily. "He only does what he wants to. I've tried before; it's impossible to get him to be responsible about anything."

A voice broke through the coming tirade. "That's cold, Kutsu. I'll have you know that I was busy planning what we'll have for dinner tonight. Seems a very responsible thing to do, if you ask me."

Kutsu rolled his eyes. "Big deal," he said. "You'll take me out to a restaurant where all they serve is ramen and rice, insisting that I try a bowl of ramen because 'there's just no way I /can't/ like it', and I'll just have rice, and you'll finally take me home, fall into bed, and begin snoring."

Naruto flushed. "Well, it still takes planning. We're running out of different ramen restaurants to go to, you know. The least you could do is at least /try/ a bowl."

Kutsu was about to make a snide retort, when Shikashi cleared his throat.

"Interesting as this paternal dispute is, I'm hoping we have a mission to do today. Right?"

Naruto jumped down from the pole he was on, and nodded his head. 

"Yep. And you'll be glad, Shikashi. This one is a bit more interesting that the others that we've done."

Midomaru whined slightly, and Kimiko rubbed his ears comfortingly. She looked just as nervous as her puppy, though.

"You guys all know the town of Hizume, about twenty miles west of Konoha?" The genin all nodded affirmative. Midomaru barked. "Well, a store there has been having trouble with one of their local gangs. So…the store hired Konoha to solve the problem. It's pretty cut and dry, as far as I can tell. We go in, wipe the floor with the thugs and their leaders, and leave. Shouldn't take us more than a couple days, I don't think."

He paused, taking time to examine his student's reactions. Kutsu looked pretty excited, smiling almost past the bounds of his face. Shikashi was grinning lazily, but that seemed to be about as excited as he ever got about anything. Kimiko looked a little uneasy, and her dog echoed her. 

"We'll meet back at the gate in one hour. Use this time to gather your things and let people know that you're going. We'll be traveling on foot, so take that into consideration. Food and shelter will be provided for us at the town."

Quickly, all three genin disappeared to gather their supplies. An hour was a lot of time, but this was their first real mission and they wanted to be prepared.

Slowly, Naruto walked down the road to gather his own things. After several minutes of walking, he reached his apartment. As he opened the door, a voice echoed from the shadows and stopped him.

"Naruto." The person in question turned and smiled weakly.

"Ah…Hey, Kiba. I imagine you're here about the mission?" Kiba nodded, face blank and waiting. "Well, don't worry. I understand that you're concerned but I'm her teacher. I'll protect her with my life, if I have to."

Kiba's response caught Naruto completely off guard. "Don't." the man said. 

"What?" Naruto deadpanned.

"Don't protect her any more than you have to. Please. I'm not just a father bragging when I say that Kimiko is one of the strongest genin in her generation. It's fact, trust me. She's just…very cautious of her power."

Naruto raised his eyebrows questioningly, and Kiba continued. 

"She hasn't learned very much about moderation yet. If she tries to do something, she does it all the way, in the most powerful form available. She doesn't switch jutsus, like going from Bunshin to Kage Bunshin…But when she does Bunshin no Jutsu, it's a perfect copy."

Naruto was obviously unsatisfied, and Kiba continued speaking once more.

"She needs to learn to not be afraid of what she can do, is what I'm saying. If she gets into a situation, wait and see if she can handle it before you jump in and save her."

Naruto nodded sagely, and Kiba leaned in close for one final note. 

"And if you could just make sure that she doesn't get too close to that Nara kid, huh? I'm not so sure what I think about him quite yet…"

Naruto chuckled and nodded, while Kiba looked around furtively. "Alright," he said, grinning. "I better head back home, or Ten-Ten will start looking for me. See you when you get back, I guess."

Kiba jumped away, and Naruto shook his head, grinning. Finally, he entered his home and began gathering his things.

***

"I'll bet you three kunai he shows up fifteen minutes late."

"Oh yeah? I'll place six kunai on the twenty minutes late slot."

There was two minutes of the hour left. Kutsu and Shikashi were placing bets on how late Naruto would show up. A voice interrupted their gambling.

"I'll bet you the entire pot that I'm here right on time."

The two genin jumped back and laughed nervously. "We were just kidding, honest, Naruto-sensei! We knew you'd be on time, really!"

The Jounin laughed and ruffled the two boy's hair. "Your faith in me is overwhelming. Are we ready to go?"

A cry of "Yeah!" was his answer. The gate swung open, and the team headed off into the sunset.

***

The journey to the village was uneventful, and passed quickly. The sun was just beginning to set when the tired team of ninja arrived at the destination. As they all stopped to catch their breath, a large man came out of a store to greet them.

"Welcome!" he called out. "I assume you are the ninjas I sent for from Konoha?"

Naruto nodded an affirmative, and the man smiled happily. "Excellent. You can get started in the morning. For now, you'd probably like to rest up and prepare. I have food ready, if you're hungry."

Excitedly, the team rushed past him to get at the food. Naruto remained outside to discuss details with their employer.

***

"Night, you guys." Naruto flopped into bed after that simple statement and began snoring. Kutsu and Shikashi remained awake for a while longer, but they kept their silence. Across the hall, Kimiko slept soundly with her puppy at her feet.

Time passed. Naruto's eyes flicked open, and he rose silently. He quickly shook both Kutsu and Shikashi awake, indicating silently that they should gather their things. Questions in their eyes, they obeyed his orders as he exited the room to wake the third member of the team.

Hurriedly, the ninja made their way down the stairs into the lobby of the inn they were staying in. As they came into the main room, the door to the outside burst open and light flooded in.

"Well, well…" a slow voice drawled. "What do we have here?"

***

Next time on Last Step: "Why are you doing this?" "Because we have no other choice." Team 4 learns that things are very rarely black and white, and they need to make an important choice. Just how much does everybody deserve?

***

Author's note: Wow. That was interesting. So how's this chapter? I feel kind of ambivalent about it; sometimes I really like it, other times, I don't. I'm pretty sure it's a good one, though. Finally, I'm getting this story moving a bit. 

So there's obviously going to be at least one pairing in this. I hope none of you object to a little ShikaKimi. It wasn't something I had planned, exactly, but it seems to work. They look so cute together…That reminds me. You guys still don't know what Team 4 looks like. I'll have to put together bios for them or something. Maybe next chapter.

I put in a cameo appearance by Uchiha Hana. Did you guys like it? He'll play a bit bigger part when the Jounin exams come around. That should be in a couple chapters, probably when I get this mission thing Team 4 is on wrapped up.

I admit it. I've cracked. I've started using UchiHA instead of UchiWA. I'm so irresolute. HA appears to be the way everybody wants it, and I'm nothing if not adaptable. Don't think I'll cave like this every time, though. I'll stand up and fight for something, really.

This update came about a week after the one before it. That's how often I'll be doing updates on this story from now on, I think. That way, I've got a bit of breathing room in between each chapter.

Okay. Apparently, having a separate author's note chapter is against the rules of ff.net. Seems kinda stupid to me, but I guess it's so that authors don't bump their stories to the front of the list by updating the note, and not the story. Oh well. I've taken it down for now, I'll probably post it again sometime. I guess I'll have to go back to answering questions in the chapter.


	5. Our happy place?

The Naruto concept is owned by Masashi Kisimoto. This story concept, and any original characters contained within, are my own property.

The Last Step 5: Our Happy Place?

Previously on The Last Step: Team 4 was sent by Konoha to a small village in the Fire Country. This village has been experiencing a problem with local gangs, and it's the job of Team 4 to eradicate the gangs. They were all set to start in the morning when in the middle of the night, the building in which they were staying was attacked?

***

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

That voice echoed through the room, unhampered by the smoke and dust flying around. As the area began to settle down, Naruto could make out shapes and silhouettes. He braced himself, fingers twirling and warming themselves up to form any number of seals. That familiar fire began burning within him, and he knew he was accessing Kyuubi's chakra.

A woman stepped out of the chaos. If Naruto hadn't been in complete control of himself, he would have gasped. She was hauntingly beautiful. Beside the Jounin, both Shikashi and Kutsu drew a sharp intake of breath. They were obviously not quite as prepared as Naruto was.

The innkeeper poked his head above the desk he was using as a bunker and pointed at the woman. "That's her!" He shouted. "She's the leader of the gang! She looks fragile, but don't be fooled! She's strong!"

The woman glared at the man, spitting in his general direction. "Ah, shut up. You're making your guests biased against me before I've even gone and introduced myself. I'm Kojiko."

She walked casually over to Naruto, offering her hand. For a moment, Naruto wasn't sure if he should shake it or kiss it. Then he shook himself, remembering the situation. "I'd rather not touch you, if it's all the same." He said with an easy grin.

More dust settled to the ground, and the ninja finally got a look at the gang members surrounding them.

"What?" Kutsu asked incredulously. "You guys are just kids." 

The 'kids' glared at him. "We're just as old as you are, punk. Don't judge us by our size."

The lady coughed delicately, attracting everybody's attention. "Anyway. We didn't exactly come here for a fight right now. Rather, we came here to provide a courtesy warning." 

Naruto smiled and laughed quietly. "While I appreciate the thought, you're wasting your time. We represent the village of Konoha, and it would be a black mark on our record if we gave up and left before we even got started. So I'm afraid we'll have to return your warning. Thanks anyway."

The mysterious woman smiled, and began to back away towards the hole in the wall, so recently created. "If that's how you feel, then I guess there's no helping it. We'll see you tomorrow, out in the town square."

She dropped a small marble, and the room filled with a thick smoke, obscuring everything. A sudden gust of wind came in through the brand new window, but it was too late. The gang was gone. Naruto scratched his head mentally. That woman had looked familiar, somehow. He knew he had seen her somewhere. He just couldn't remember where.

The room was silent except for one last plaintive comment by the innkeeper. 

"Who's going to pay for that wall?"

***

Naruto awoke slowly, his eyes blinking in the surprising lack of sunlight. He made a mental note to ask the innkeeper how he had solved the problem [1], and rolled over like he always did. He was too lazy to get off of his futon in the morning, he'd rather just fall off of it.

"Hey! Get off, you fat lump!" Shikashi tiredly pushed at the adult, who had randomly rolled over, right onto where Shikashi was trying (and failing) to remain asleep through the morning.

Kutsu sat up lazily, blinking his eyes. "Hey, guys? What time is it?" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and began to stretch. Naruto checked the watch he kept under his pillow, and answered. 

"It's almost nine. Why?"

Kutsu stood up hurriedly and began throwing on his ninja uniform. "Because breakfast gets served at nine, and they've got waffles. I want to be there right when they open so I can load up my plate!"

Shikashi nodded his agreement, and Naruto smiled. "Rookies. I slept in my clothes. I'm heading down now."

Ignoring the shouts of protest, Naruto stood up in his rumpled pants and vest, and strode out the door. 

"Stand back", he called. "I take big steps." He paused to knock on Kimiko's door. "Hey, Kimiko? It's breakfast time." He prepared to knock again, when a note taped the door caught his eye.

"_Naruto-sensei and team: Midomaru and I are downstairs, in line for the waffles. I'll save some for you."_

Naruto smiled broadly. That girl….Whistling jauntily, he began to walk down the stairs to the breakfast room. He ignored the crashes coming from behind him, Kutsu and Shikashi were still trying to sort out where their clothes had disappeared to overnight.  

***

Shikashi leaned back in his chair, contentedly. That had been a darn good breakfast, he reflected. The waffles had been top notch. The bacon had been expertly cooked, the eggs done to perfection. 

And he didn't even have to pay.

"Alright, team. Let's get our gear together, and we'll go out and earn our keep here." Naruto stood up and motioned for his protégés to do the same.

Ah, yes. That, Shikashi remembered, was the catch. Now, he had to go out and do some actual work. Slowly, he stood up and followed his teacher out of the room. He pointedly ignored Kutsu, who was cheering happily about the commencement of his first real mission. 

He quickly flicked his eyes towards the final member of his team. Kimiko caught him glancing at her, and flushed. She gave him a shy smile, before leaning down to pick up Midomaru and placing him in his special seat of honor on top of her head. 

Why did that smile make him nervous?

His internal reverie was interrupted by the innkeeper, coming over to wish the ninja good luck. 

"So you're all heading out?" 

Naruto nodded assent. "Yep. We're heading out now. We'll probably be back late tonight, then we'll return to the village tomorrow morning. At least, that's the plan."

The innkeeper smiled. "Good. Well, just remember. When you're fighting those thugs, don't give them any mercy. They're evil, through and through. I don't doubt that they'll kill you, if you let down your guard."

Naruto's smile faded a bit. "We'll do whatever is necessary." He said stiffly. The Jounin's discomfort was lost on the oblivious host.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find it necessary to kill at least the woman. She's almost the devil, she is. And those kids aren't much better, believe you me. None of them had parents, so they've all grown up wild."

A fire began burning in Naruto's eyes. The innkeeper, lost in his tirade of self-righteousness, failed to see it.

"Honestly, I can't say I'm surprised. If you don't have parents to provide discipline in your childhood, then you're ruined for later in life. Those children are destined to become nothing more than petty hoodlums-"

Naruto stalked angrily past him, fists clenched in anger. The innkeeper looked at him curiously. "Well. I understand it's disgusting, but I've never seen somebody react that strongly to it."

It didn't escape Shikashi's notice that as Kutsu walked by, the genin took special care to trod directly on the innkeeper's toe. Kimiko did the same. To the same toe.

Who was Shikashi to break such a streak?

"Well…good luck, then" the innkeeper called out weakly. After waving to the departing ninja, he hobbled into the back room to examine his toe. The dang thing felt like it was broken.

***

For some reason, constant sounds of nature can be extremely relaxing. For example, a bird singing in the forest can be a lullaby for a crying child. Or a waterfall will lull a person to sleep.

Naruto could use some lulling right now. That innkeeper…his fist clenched again, and Naruto forced himself to relax. Deep breaths. Unclench the muscles. Take another breath. Hold, and exhale.

How ignorant could people get? Just because somebody didn't have parents, that didn't mean jack about how much they would amount to later in life. There were plenty of guiding forces other than parents. He had found Iruka. Kutsu had found him.

GOD, that innkeeper was annoying. He seemed pretty insistent that the gang be killed, or at least their leader. That woman…why did she deserve to die? Idly, Naruto wondered what she had done to piss off the town so much.

"Hey, teacher! C'mon, let's go! You said we'd meet that lady in the town square, right? Well, this sure doesn't look like the town square to me."

Shikamaru counted sides quickly. "I agree with Kutsu. This looks like the town dodecahedron, if you ask me."

The silence brought on by that comment was broken only by the soft giggles of Kimiko. If they had made noise, it also would have been broken by the glares that both Kutsu and Naruto were shooting him.

"Smartass." Naruto muttered. Shikashi wisely hid his grin. He got the sense that Naruto would slap him if he started laughing. Turning his back, Naruto stood up and strode off towards the town square, Kutsu in tow. Shikashi chuckled softly, /very/ softly, to himself and began to follow them. He passed Kimiko, and she began to walk next to him, matching his stride. As they drew close to their teammate and teacher, she leaned over and whispered in his ear. "I thought it was funny."

Shikashi ignored the red he knew was staining his cheeks. There was no reason to be blushing now, was there? He stole a glance at Kimiko out of the corner of his eye, and saw that she had the same red she did. 

If she was doing it to, then it couldn't be completely wrong, right?

***

Kojiko almost felt sad, watching people around her. They avoided her like she was a plague carrier. Like she had some sort of force field, which they couldn't, or wouldn't, breach.

She didn't deserve this. Nobody did. Nobody deserved to be ostracized like this. Didn't everybody deserve to have somebody love them, somebody accept them?

Didn't everybody deserve to have a home?

A call brought her out of her reverie. "Oi, lady? Are we gonna fight here, or what?" She looked up, startled. 

"I don't suppose I could convince you to leave us alone?" She ventured. Naruto shook his head, grinning slightly.

"Nah. My team and I have a job to do, and I'd rather not just abandon it without even trying."

Kojiko nodded, standing up. "Very well. In that case, we should proceed to where we'll be fighting. It wouldn't be good if you trashed the town square while eradicating the town of pests." Her tone was slightly bitter.

"Actually-" Shikashi started. Kutsu smacked him quickly. 

"We don't care about how many sides this place has, dumbass. It's not a perfect square. Deal."

Kojiko stifled a laugh at that. How long had these boys known each other, she wondered. They treated each other like family. At that, her eyes began to tear up, and she quickly turned. It wouldn't do to allow her enemies to see her cry. Never let them see you cry, she remembered. 

"Follow me. Don't worry, it's short walk."

***

"This is it?" Kutsu asked incredulously. "This is where we're fighting?"

The location in question was a dilapidated old building. Kutsu's concern was well founded; the building looked like it could collapse at any second, even without going through the rigors of ninja fighting.

Kojiko glared at him briefly. "This is where my gang and I live. Be respectful, brat." Naruto easily snagged the back of Kutsu's collar as he charged angrily towards the lady. 

"Ease up there, big man." Naruto cautioned. "You'll be fighting her soon enough. No need to be hasty right now." He looked closely at Kojiko. He /knew/ he had seen her somewhere. "Before we fight, I have just one question."

Kojiko looked at him uneasily. "What is it?" She asked, her eyes blinking slowly. Naruto examined her face questioningly.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked quietly. She looked down and shut her eyes.

"All I wanted was a place to live. A place for me and my family of orphans to stay. Doesn't everybody deserve a place to be happy?"

The Jounin frowned. "According to my job description, you've burned down around four houses and destroyed three different storefronts. That's not looking for a place to live; that's just intimidation and destruction."

Kojiko's eyes flashed open angrily. "There are extenuating circumstances you couldn't hope to understand. I can tell, you've never felt the pain of being truly alone in this world. You're a ninja. You've had your team, you've got your parents, your teachers. Your genin now. I never had any of that."

A tear dripped slowly from one eye, falling to the ground. Kojiko ignored it, continuing with her tirade. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed shapes coming into resolution as people. His team was being surrounded. He quickly accessed the Kyuubi's chakra, just in case.

"My mother died giving birth, my father died right along with her. I passed the genin test in my village, only to be rejected in my team. I abandoned them first chance I got. I haven't had anybody my entire life. Don't I have the right to make my own family?"

Recognition dawned in Naruto's eyes. He knew where he had seen her. Her pictures was in the book of Missing-nin. She wasn't a criminal of very high class, not being deemed that dangerous.

"You're Kojiko of the Mist Village?" He asked incredulously. She nodded, eyes blazing. "So that's where I saw your face. It's been bugging me ever since last night." 

Kojiko smiled, her expression full of pain. "And now," she continued, as if Naruto had never spoken, "You understand why I have to do what I have to do. I'm all the family these orphans have. I cannot and will not allow you to take them from their home." 

Without warning, she clasped her hands rapidly in seals. With his training, Naruto was able to recognize them all. His team wasn't quite as skilled.

"What? What's she doing?" Kutsu shouted. Shikashi didn't bother wasting time with words. He activated his Kagemane no Jutsu quickly, and shadows from all around began streaking towards the kunoichi. Kimiko began activating a jutsu of her own, Midomaru growling at anybody who came near. Naruto hung back and let the genin handle it. It was their mission, after all. He'd come in if it looked like they needed help.

The shadows were closing in. Shikashi could feel the anticipation running through his veins, he was almost there.

Then, Kojiko began to sing. Her hands clasped in the seal of the Tiger, her voice was haunting but soothing, sad but hopeful, all at the same time. Unconsciously, Shikashi canceled his jutsu. Using chakra right now would take up his concentration, and all he wanted to concentrate on right now was that sweet, beautiful song.

"Hush, little baby, don't say a word…"

Kutsu yawned. That song was so beautiful…It was everything he had ever wanted. How many times had he lain awake, hoping somebody would sing something to him?

"Momma's gonna buy you a mocking bird…"

In that moment, Kimiko felt really, truly, loved. This woman, Kojiko, she loved Kimiko. Even with all her faults, even with her lack of confidence…Kojiko loved her.

"If that mocking bird don't sing..."

So this was what is what it was like to have a mother, Kutsu thought drowsily. It felt nice. It felt warm, and fuzzy. He liked it. His eyes began to droop closed.

"Momma's gonna buy you a golden ring…"

In his state of drowsy half-sleep, Shikashi had only one conscious thought. This woman, this Kojiko, this mother…He loved her, and she loved him. She would do anything for him. So shouldn't he do anything for her?

"If that golden ring turns brass…"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. This was very rapidly turning into a situation the genin didn't look like they could handle. He began to step forward, intent on stopping Kojiko from singing any more verses.

"Momma's gonna buy you a looking glass…"

A hand clapped on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Sorry, can't let you do that. You'll have to fight me before you try to stop her."

"If that looking glass does break…"

Kutsu shifted lazily. There was something he had to do, he remembered. Something even more important than his new mother. Something even more important than listening to this beautiful song. Something….

"Momma's gonna buy you a birthday cake…"

Naruto wheeled on his heels, hand flying up in a fist to punch the objector in the face. Before the blow connected, a slap echoed through the room.

"I don't have a mother, and you're not her. You never can be." Kutsu was breathing heavily from the exertion of breaking free. He had a job to do. He had to stop this woman. She wasn't his mother. 

Kojiko gaped at him. Her bottom hurt; she had toppled from the slap. There wasn't very much power in it, but the surprise alone was enough to sap the strength from her legs. 

In unison which was almost comic, both Shikashi and Kimiko shook their heads. They cleared the cobwebs out from their minds, and slowly began to understand what happened.

"A genjutsu.." marveled Shikashi. He knew he was in the middle of a fight, but still. Art always deserved some kind of recognition, and that genjutsu was an incredible work of art. He had even seen her make the seals, and yet, once she started singing, everything had disappeared. It was just him, her, and the song. A part of his mind wondered how Kutsu had managed to break the jutsu. Another part wished he hadn't. The music truly was beautiful.

Naruto placed a steadying hand on Kimiko's shoulder. She looked woozy from the jutsu, but Naruto's presence seemed to steady her. She shook her head from side to side and withdrew a kunai, preparing to fight.

"If you guys can take the gang members, I'll take care of Kojiko. Sound good?"

Team 4 nodded, and prepared to fight.

***

The battle was over within minutes. Kojiko was far too busy fighting Naruto to even think about helping her gang. And Kutsu, Shikashi, and Kimiko, with their ninja training, were more than a match for some street kids.

Kojiko looked around wildly. All over, her family was fighting and losing. They were hurting, bleeding. Sadly, she accepted what she had to do.

Dodging Naruto's punch, she jumped away and dropped to her knees. "I surrender." She said clearly.

Naruto stopped attacking, caught off guard. "What?" He asked. In all his days as a ninja, he'd never had somebody simply surrender before. Never. It just didn't happen. As a ninja, your commitment to the village was everything; you fight a losing battle to the death before surrendering. Or you'd try and run away. Whatever was easiest.

But simply give up? Unheard of. "Why?" he questioned.

Kojiko bit her lip, and answered. "If I surrender, then you'll leave my children alone. I can't bear to see you hurting them. You can take me back to my village, let me die. I don't care. But leave my orphans alone."

Naruto scratched his head. There had to be some way to fix this, he knew it. Slowly, a smile spread across his face.

"You just want a place to stay, correct?"

***

"I don't know how I can thank you for this." Kojiko said, staring at the newly formed house. It looked like it had grown out of the forest floor. It had. 

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah, don't mention it. I don't get to use that jutsu often enough anyway, it's good to see that I made something useful with it [2]. As long as you guys live here, then I don't think anybody will bother you. And now that that's finished with, we should probably head back to our own home."

Smiling, Kojiko waved goodbye to the genin. They did the same, and their calls echoed through the forest.

"Bye, mom!"

***

"So did you kill her?" 

God, that innkeeper was annoying. Naruto rubbed his head and sighed. "Hey, c'mere."

The innkeeper came closer. "So, what happened? She's dead, right?"

Quick as a flash, Naruto punched the innkeeper in the jaw. "You're one of the most ignorant, bigoted people I've ever met. And I've met a lot. You disgust me. Never hire from our village again." He hissed angrily. The innkeeper backed up against the wall, scared out of his shoes. Naruto stalked out of the inn, and his team followed him silently.

They did, however, take care to walk on the innkeeper's foot. The same toe as last time. All three of them.

Shikashi made sure to add an extra little twist when he stepped on it.

***

The moon rose over Konoha. Everybody was asleep, after a mission well done.

Well, almost everybody. Kutsu was still awake. Silently, he crept on to the roof of the house he now shared with Naruto. Looking up at the moon and the stars, he hugged himself and began to sing, quietly.

"Hush, little baby, don't say a word, momma's gonna buy you a mocking bird…" His voice cracked, and he sniffed softly. 

"If that mocking bird don't sing, momma's gonna buy you a golden ring…" He kept on singing, though he knew he would never be able to capture that feeling of love and family again. 

A strong arm wrapped around his shoulders, and Naruto's rich baritone blended with Kutsu's tenor. 

"If that golden ring turns brass, momma's gonna buy you a looking glass…"

Naruto smiled, and hugged Kutsu just a little bit tighter. Neither of them had any family to speak of, but for the moment, they were content in each other's company.

***

Next time on Last Step: The Jounin exams are here! Inoka and Hana will finish their training, and learn that they are about to face something unlike anything they've ever done before.

***

Author's note: Okay. Everybody, one special reviewer deserves a quick round of applause. Himizu went out and found the picture I told you all about. The one of Team 7 at age 20, where Naruto has facepaint. You can find it at 

And special thanks goes out to Gemin, who graciously agreed to beta-read the first part of this chapter after he messaged me on AIM. He comes in expecting a conversation, and instead, I rope him into beta-reading four pages of what I suspect was horrible. That's dedication for you.

[1]: That's a reference to the first chapter. If you didn't get it. You probably did.

[2]: The jutsu is Mokudon: Jyukai Koudan. It's the jutsu used by Shodaime in chapter 122. I read somewhere that this is the jutsu he used to make Konoha Village. Here, it's used to make a big house.

Okay. I am SOOO sorry. I meant to get this out on Saturday, then I realized that it WAS Saturday, and I only had about two pages done. Then it was Sunday, and I only had three pages done. Then it was Monday, and I only had four pages done. Then Gemin messaged me, and I buckled down and just finished the chapter. So what do you guys think? I'm not quite sure about the end. I know that it seems like I just did a cheap cop-out to finish the fight; that's honestly not what I did. That's really truly how I intended this whole thing to play out.

Writing this chapter was made harder by the fact that my computer kept on doing that thing where it constantly jumps to the bottom of whatever document you're reading. So I had to keep on saving and closing. Anybody know how to fix that? I'd be eternally in your debt if you could help me. It's really annoying, and it slows down how fast I can write.

Next chapter is the jounin exam. Oh boy! I'm looking forward to those, they should be exciting. Also next chapter, I'll post little descriptions of Shikashi, Kimiko, and Kutsu. Just so you guys know what they look like.

And by the way…Gemin went and did this. You guys shouldn't be afraid to add me to your buddy list, and message me if I'm on. I'm always happy to talk to a reviewer. I love a little ego stroking, just like any other author out there. If you've already added me to your list and I just haven't been on, I'm sorry. I'm working on a research paper right now, and it's sucking up my time. But it's due this Friday, so after it's finished, I should be able to be online more often. Okay? Great.


	6. It's like the Superbowl!

The original Naruto concept is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This specific story concept, and all original characters contained within, are my own property.

Previously on Last Step: After completing what Kutsu calls their first "real mission", Team 4 is back in Konoha, just in time for a very special event: The Jounin exams. 

***

Last Step 6: It's like the Superbowl!

***

At the surface, Konoha looked just like it always did. Ninja were constantly leaving or arriving, going on missions or returning home. People were wandering the streets, doing errands or meeting with friends. Just like everybody always did.

As soon as you took a closer look, though, you saw something different. The entire village was buzzing with excitement. The feeling had been building for months now, and was reaching a frenzied head of gossip and chatter. 

"It's coming", one person would whisper.

"This should be one of the best yet!" another would say. 

As the date of the anticipated event drew closer, something strange happened. Slowly, everybody grew quieter and quieter. Their anticipation had gone beyond the point where it could be expressed with words; it was simply felt. 

The Jounin Exams will soon begin.

***

Intellectually, he knew he should stop. He /knew/ it. Just look at his hand. It was all torn up, the knuckles covered in blood.

And yet…Uchiha Hana knew that he wouldn't be able to cease training for several hours still. There was something running through his veins, energy he just had to burn off. 

Another punch thudded soundly into the padded pole, and Hana winced. There was no sense in handicapping himself before the exam, he decided. He'd win no matter what, but he didn't want to just win. He wanted to /dominate/. He wanted to prove, utterly and completely, that he, among all the chuunin of all the villages, deserved the most to be promoted to jounin. 

Wrapping a bandage around his hand, Hana flexed his fingers. Snapping his hands into different seals, he began practicing jutsus.

The Jounin Exams would start in a little under a week. For three days before the tests, Hana would rest. Until, there was no excuse for not training.

***

Sweat dripped off her nose, splashing lightly on the ground. She flinched at the slight sound, but refused to let it break her concentration. Moving her arm, she carefully watched her target. 

The arm moved with hers. The synchronization was perfect.

Shouting in exultation, Inoka released the jutsu and threw up her arms in exultation. She would have shouted something, but she didn't quite have enough air. She'd been holding her new jutsu for around three minutes, a new personal best. It was tiring, but worth it.

Inoka made a note to show off her new technique at the Jounin Exams, and began trudging back home. After a hard day's training, she knew that there was nothing better than a hot meal cooked by her mother.

Taking a deep breath, Inoka began to run. After all, she wanted to excel in the Jounin Exams. If she wanted to do that, she'd have to push herself and make new limits, right?

***

Shikashi looked down at the river. There was something he was supposed to remember, he knew it. He just didn't know what. He hated it when that happened. Flipping a pebble into the water, he marveled at how the flow instantly adjusted itself to suit the new addition, not pausing to complain about the intrusion.

"Sh-Shikashi-kun?"

Oh yeah. Training was canceled until the end of the Jounin exams. They could train on their own, Naruto had said, but he would be busy until the end of the testing.

"What are you doing here?"

Shikashi turned, and blinked. He hadn't even heard Kimiko speaking to him. Oops. "Sorry" he muttered. "I forgot we didn't have training today, so I've been waiting at this bridge since I got up." He smiled slightly, although he wasn't sure if it was at himself or at the girl in front of him. Regardless, she blushed.

"Well" she started, "Um..I was going to go train today, even without Naruto-sensei to help me. If you wanted to, you could come and train with me…" she trailed off, unsure if she was doing the right thing. 

"I might as well." Shikashi said, looking back at the river. "I promised my mom I'd train today, and she'll be on my case all week if I don't. And it's no fun training alone, right?" 

Shikashi wondered if that was the only reason he agreed to train with Kimiko. He had a sneaking suspicion that he'd do it even if he hadn't made any promises. Just seeing Kimiko's face light up when he assented seemed like a good enough reward, Shikashi reasoned.

"Okay, then!" the girl bubbled excitedly. As Kimiko dragged Shikashi by the arm to the training location, he reflected that this was the most emotional he'd ever seen her get. In the back of his mind, he wondered why. Then he stopped, afraid he might know the answer.

Rather than thinking, he just let himself be pulled along by the exuberant, normally quiet, girl. He reveled in her company, and went with the flow. Just like the river he had been watching.

***

Naruto cracked his knuckles. The Jounin exam started today, and Naruto had been tapped as a proctor for various portions. This wasn't the first time he had done this; Tsunade-baachan had assigned him proctor for the exam before last, as well. Naruto remembered it being lots of fun, especially the end. He was looking forward to the end this time, it promised to be quite exciting.

He raked his gaze over the Chuunin gathered in front of him, and cleared his throat. The noise was slight, but it managed to attract the attention of the test takers. Instantly, the miscellaneous chatter stopped, and Naruto felt hundreds of eyes inspecting him. He cleared his throat again; public speaking wasn't exactly his forte. 

"We all know why you're here, so there's no sense mincing words. You're going to take the Jounin Exams. 

Now, how many of you can perform Kuchiyose no Jutsu?"

As Naruto expected, no hands went up. The Kuchiyose no Jutsu was a fairly high level one, and each ninja had to find their own animal to sign a contract with. Because of the high level of individualism, the summoning jutsu wasn't often one that parents passed down to their children.

"Alright. That's what I expected."

He faltered slightly, and Hinata stepped up to take his place. 

"The first portion of the Jounin Exams will be this. Your Kage leaders have sent animal specimens from their country to the village of Konoha, and the animals have been released into the Forest of Death. Your portion of the exam is to go out, find an animal of your choice, sign a contract with it, and come back to demonstrate your mastery of the jutsu."

Now Lee stepped up to complete the instructions. "There are a lot of you, and only a limited number can advance. Therefore, the first 30 chuunin to come back and demonstrate their mastery will advance. The rest are knocked out of the exam."

So far, the room had been quiet. That last note got some people murmuring, however. The limitation wasn't anything they hadn't expected, but the number seemed a little low. Still, they reasoned, this was the Jounin Exams. The tests which classified you as the most advanced ninja around, short of being Hokage. It wasn't a title given to just everybody, right? 

A lone hand floated above the rest. It belonged to a Stone ninja, whose face was covered in scars. "Does the strength of the animal matter?" 

Naruto fielded that question pretty easily. "You'll want to find an animal you can work well with. The better your relationship with the animal, the more it will help you in a fight."

There were no further questions, and so the group of Chuunin headed off towards the Forest of Death, led by the Jounin proctors.

"Alright," Naruto called out before he opened the gates. "The first 30 to come back with a signed contract make it to the next round. Everybody else is left behind. Oh, and one more thing." Naruto's face turned somber. "This exam is dangerous. In all three phases, your life is in danger. Nobody's going to be watching over your shoulder, pulling your ass out of the frying pan. If you get in trouble in this forest, you get yourself out of it. Or you end up dead."

With that final word of warning, Naruto and Lee pulled open the entrance, and the testers streamed inside the forest.

As the last of the chuunins entered, Naruto looked at his fellow proctors. "How many do you think will get promoted?" He asked. Hinata looked through the gate at the backs of the chuunin. 

"It's too early to say right now," Hinata ventured cautiously. Lee appeared behind her, holding his chin in thought.

"I would disagree," Lee stated confidently. "The Uchiha child, and the Nara child, they will both pass. It's impossible to believe that they won't. I've heard good things about Sarutobi-kun [1], as well. That makes three, probably."

Neji, who was leaning up against a tree, chose that moment to speak his piece. "Rumors have been flying around about some strong Stone genin, as well. I doubt any of the other villages will make nearly as strong a showing."

With that comment echoing in their minds, the group of Jounin proctors lapsed into silence, the only noise in the area being the singing of birds and the shuffling of cards.

***

Inoka glanced from side to side quietly. She didn't see anything, but if her parents had taught her anything, they'd made her learn that seeing nothing meant exactly that. Nothing.

She'd gotten away from the group as soon as she could. She knew that the Forest of Death was a dangerous place, but common sense told her she had to be alone. She knew exactly what sort of animal she was looking for, and it wasn't the sort of creature which would appear for a large group.

Come to that, it wouldn't really appear for a single person, not unless it wanted to. But it would show itself for her, she knew it. 

She jumped to the ground and began examining the area, looking for somewhere to start. Something caught her eye, and she began to smile. There was only one animal that could make tracks like that. That hoof pattern, with that depth and weight? It had to be what she was looking for.

Her eyes fixed on the ground, she began following the tracks slowely. The hoofprints had to lead somewhere, and she'd bet anything it was the animal she wanted for her Kuchiyose no Jutsu.

***

Hana wasn't having the same sort of luck that Inoka enjoyed, although he wasn't aware of her good fortune. A Kuchiyose no Jutsu? Pathetic. He didn't need one of those fancy summoning jutsu in order to fight. He did his own work, thank you very much.

Besides that, he couldn't find a single animal worth summoning for the life of him. All he'd seen so far was weak things like bugs.

He stomped angrily on a stump which impeded his progress through the forest. The stump exploded into a cloud of dust and soot.

Wait…Soot? That shouldn't be there. Hana's brain started whirring, trying to understand this new information. Soot only appeared where something had been burned. Things only burned when there was fire. 

There was an animal that lit things on fire? That could be useful. Hana followed the path, tracking the charred plants. Now that he knew what to look for, he had no trouble seeing the signs of passing.

***

Kando crouched, sliding his Grass village forehead protector back up on his forehead. Here was an animal, and it had to be strong. It was huge! He scuttled forward a couple feet, and then stood up.

"Hey, you!" He shouted brashly. The rhino took one last bite of grass and turned. 

"Yes?" the beast asked. Kando glared at it. 

"I need you to sign a summoning contract with me."

The rhino mulled that over, chewing on the grass still. He took care to take just long enough to irritate Kando, but not long enough to make it look like he was stalling. "What do I get if I sign this contract with you?" He asked, swallowing. After his question, he took another bite of grass.

Kando glared at him. "I won't tie you down and leave you for some predator, how about that?" He answered. "Just get the damn contract and sign it."

The rhino walked from one patch of grass to another. "Nope." He replied.

Kando was shocked. "What?" he demanded. He wasn't aware the stupid animals had a choice.

"I refuse to sign a contract with somebody like you. Go away, you're interrupting my meal."

The Grass ninja began shaking with anger. What right did this stupid beast have to deny him? He began snapping his hands into seals, channeling his rage into Chakra. "Mokudon: Jyukai Koudan!"

Small trees began winding out of the ground, wrapping themselves around the rhino's legs and torso. Shifting from side to side, the rhino tore himself free, but the trees kept on growing. Growling, the rhino charged at the ninja, in an effort to stop the jutsu. He gored Kando on his giant horn, shaking him from side to side before flinging the dying ninja over his back. Turning around, the rhino trampled over the Grass-nin, just to make sure he was dead.

Abruptly, the echoing screams were cut short.

***

She couldn't allow herself to get distracted by the obvious deaths of other ninjas. Inoka had been tracking the animal for several minutes now, and she sensed she was getting close. Quietly, she climbed up into a tree to scout the area. Sucking in her breath, she saw it.

The largest deer she had ever seen, the horns were huge and fully racked. She could tell that they were sharp and strong, as well. The deer pawed the ground softly as she climbed down and approached him.

He looked at her with one eye, and she knew he was measuring her. She'd been around deer all her life [2], but never one quiet this big or powerful. She took some bread from her pack; she had brought it for food if she needed it, but this was more important. Holding the food in an open hand, she offered it to the deer. 

The regal beast approached her slowly and ate the bread from her hands. She smiled. Deer were nervous creatures; this one wouldn't have eaten from her unless it trusted her. The deer backed off a step and looked at her again.

"You are part of the Jounin exams, are you not?" 

Inoka was surprised, but did her best not to show it. She'd heard that the animals which you summoned through Kuchiyose no Jutsu would speak, but she'd never imagined it actually happening. Still, she was good at going with the flow of events.

"I am."

The deer nodded. "Then you expect me to sign a Kuchiyose no Jutsu contract with you, and pledge my life to your cause in return for the bread you offered".

Inoka looked down. She had to be very careful, here. "I will only make you sign a contract with me if you desire it. I am part of the Nara clan, and we raise deer as a favor to the deer and to the village. I would never make you do something you do not wish to do."

The deer looked at her calmly. "You are part of the Nara clan?" He questioned. Inoka nodded, not daring to speak and mess things up. "Then I will sign your contract and pledge my life," the deer continued. The animal walked over to a large tree, and began digging among the roots. After a moment, he used his horns to pull out a giant scroll. Pushing it towards Inoka, it unrolled and opened. The first blank space lay right at her feet. Examining the names before her, she saw some she recognized. Her father, for one. Shikato, her grandfather was another. There was one, however, she couldn't read. Directly after her father's name and fingerprints, there was a name which had been scratched out, holes poked in the prints, making them no longer complete. The deer noticed her interest, and indicated the last name on the list.

"That was a mistake," he rumbled. "I pledged myself when I shouldn't have, and my comrades died as a result. I voided his contract, and have nothing more to do with him. Now sign."

Inoka bit her thumb, wincing at the sudden pain. As the blood welled up, she quickly wrote her name in her normal flowing script. Rubbing blood on her fingertips, she planted her hand beneath her name, feeling warmth running from the scroll into her arm. It rolled up on its own, and she handed it back to the deer. Quickly, he explained the technique, its uses and limitations.

"Now, go." He told her. "You should hurry back, should you not?" She nodded, and began to back away. The deer stopped her before she departed. "I will call someone. They will bring you back."

He made a bleating noise, and waited. After a moment, bushes rattled and a smaller deer appeared. The two animals conversed in a series of grunts and bellows. The larger deer's grunt was pitched very low, lower than any Inoka had heard before. He must be very old, she thought. Finally, the smaller deer walked over to Inoka and knelt. She took the hint and climbed on his back. When he was sure the rider was secure, the deer padded away, gathering speed as he ran. Eventually, he was leaping through the woods, somehow dodging the trees. Squinting against the wind, Inoka saw the chainlink fence and tried to indicate the destination to her steed.

She didn't need to. With a leap, the deer cleared the fence and landed, lightly, in the middle of the Jounin's poker game. While Lee frantically insisted that he had too been sitting on three twigs and _five _leaves, despite Neji's assurances that it had been two twigs and _one_ leave, Naruto and Hinata verified that Inoka could perform the Kuchiyose no Jutsu. She only managed to summon a small fawn, but only Naruto had done better during his exam, and he'd had significant amounts of practice.

After dismissing the fawn, Inoka sat down and began playing hearts with the rest of the jounins.

***

Maki jumped on the back of the tiger, trying to roll it into a tree.  The tiger snarled, digging his claws into the ground to remain stable. "I refuse to sign a contract with you!" the giant cat growled. Rolling over now, the cat rolled on top of the Mist-nin.

Maki pulled a kunai out of his pocket and stabbed the tiger, just as the tiger swiped across the ninja's jacket with a giant paw. The claws went through the flack vest like a knife through butter. The knife wasn't hot, nor was the butter warm. But the damage was done. 

At this point, Maki didn't care about passing the Jounin exam. He just wanted to get out of the forest alive. Feebly moving his hands, he tried to summon a water clone to distract the tiger.

"If you think I'm letting you get out of here alive, you're more wrong than you've ever been in your life." The tiger, with the kunai still in his shoulder, pounced faster than Maki thought was possible for an animal that big. 

The tiger felt no need to make sure Maki died quickly. So he didn't.

***

There it was…The animal Hana had been following for the past quarter of an hour. He stared at it longingly…Think of how much power the lizard had to contain. It was huge.

Standing up from his crouched position, Hana approached the giant salamander. Circling around to the lizard's side, Hana waved a hand to attract its attention. 

"Hey, lizard!" He shouted. The salamander shifted to look at the impudent teenager.

"Whaddaya want, kid?" The lizard asked crossly. "I'm busy here". 

Hana wondered what a giant talking lizard could be busy doing, but he refused to look like he wasn't in control of the situation.

"You work with fire. I want you to sign a Kuchiyose no Jutsu contract with me. I'm of the Uchiha clan, we excel in Katon jutsus. You would work well with me, so we should form a partnership."

The lizard stared at Hana. "Screw you," he replied. "I'm not going to sign a contract with any punk who comes charging up to me. You've got to prove that I won't be doing all the work, first."

Hana quickly reviewed what he knew about salamanders and other lizards. Couldn't they regenerate parts of their body? He was pretty sure they could. And if they couldn't, would he really want to partner with an animal so weak?

"Alright," he said boldly. "I'll prove myself to you by cutting off your tail. How does that sound?"

The lizard stared at him, then began laughing. "Hah! Cut off my tail? A little squirt like you? I'll tell you what, kid. If you can even _touch_ my tail without getting burned to a crisp, I'll sign your stupid contract. How does that sound?"

Hana sneered briefly. "It sounds like I'll be getting a contract in just a minute" he scoffed. 

He reached around and grabbed the four pieces of his Fuuma shuriken. His eyes opened wider, and he spun the pieces around, feeling the familiar jolt of each blade locking into place. 

The salamander narrowed his eyes. "I've seen that before, you brat. If you think I'm going to let you get close to me with that thing, you've got another think coming." The tail of the lizard ignited with a large pop. Moving with speed Hana had never imagined the lizard could possess, the salamander swung the tip of the flaming tail at Hana and his Fuuma shuriken.

Hana jumped away, but not quite fast enough to avoid the blast of withering heat. More than ever, he wanted that lizard to sign the contract. That fire was hotter than anything Hana had ever produced. It was hotter than anything Chichi [3] had ever produced, come to that. 

Spinning the giant shuriken around, Hana heard the hissing of the blades slicing through the air. If he made one mistake right now, he'd lose his arm. With one last revolution, he hurled the shuriken in a parabola, watching it arc towards the base of the lizard's tail. It appeared that it would hit its target, but at the last second, the salamander jerked the tail away.

The Fuuma shuriken thunked into the ground, almost half buried with the force of the throw. Hana cursed. He didn't have anything else big enough to cut that tail with, not counting his dad's Chidori technique. And Chichi hadn't seen fit to teach Hana that technique, not yet.

The chuunin jumped to the ground, attempting to retrieve his only chance at getting a contract. After tugging the weapon from the ditch it created, he ran and promptly tripped over what felt like a small, fleshy log. Cursing and looking at his feet, Hana saw the object of his destruction: the tip of the salamander's tail. 

"It appears you've succeeded", the salamander muttered. "You got the tip of my tail."

Hana gaped. He had succeeded? He could have sworn that the shuriken had missed completely.

"That's better than your father did, I'll have you know. He only managed to get half of what's lying there, now." While he was speaking, the lizard trundled over to a hollow log and withdrew a giant scroll. Tossing it at Hana, the lizard continued his speech.

"Your father was a good ninja, though. Knew when to summon me, and when to fight on his own. It's good to know that his son wasn't spoiled to death by that pink haired girl he married."

Hana unrolled the scroll, reviewing the names. Uchiha Sasuke was one. There were no others that he recognized. Biting his thumb, he quickly wrote his name and signed the prints. After the momentary warmth, the scroll rolled back up again and the lizard returned it to its place in the log. The lizard quickly explained how to perform the jutsu, and continued with his speech.

"Sasuke's brother, though…I'm glad I didn't sign with him. He was a bad apple, all the way. I could sense it right from the beginning. Come on, kid. I'll take you back to where you need to be."

Still trying to understand everything that was going on, Hana climbed on the back of the lizard and rode him all the way to the fence. Without breaking step, the lizard melted a hole through the fence and walked right through the game of Hearts the jounin had been playing. While Lee frantically tried to insist that he had shot the moon and Neji calmly stated that Lee had only gotten the Queen of Spades and four hearts, Naruto and Hinata verified that Hana could perform the Kuchiyose no Jutsu, summoning a salamander about the size of a badger.

After that, he sat down and wordlessly began playing blackjack with Inoka while they waited for more chuunin to complete the test.

***

Asudai Sarutobi jumped from branch to branch, thinking about what animal he should sign a contract with. He knew that there were boatloads of animals in the forest, but he didn't really know what he would work well with. He was, however, glad he was staying in the trees. Three ninja had already died, if you counted their screams. Asudai guessed that the ninja just didn't understand that animals could be dangerous. Finally, he decided that he would just try to sign a contract with whatever he came across first.

Right after he came to that conclusion, he slipped on a mossy branch and almost fell to the ground. He managed to hook one arm around a lower branch, thus saving himself from a long fall. It didn't, however, prevent bellowing laughter from echoing in the flora around him

"Hah! Did you see that? That was the worst performance of tree jumping I've ever seen!"

Asudai climbed up onto the branch, scowling. "I was thinking about something else, bozo!" He shouted crossly. "And I'd like to see you do better with a branch that mossy."

The branches shifted, and the voice changed position. "I don't need to prove myself to you, rookie. I know I'm good at jumping around in trees. And if you want to sign a contract with me, you'll have to prove that you're worth it."

Asudai glared at the branches around him, trying vainly to see the source of his ridicule. "Who says I want to sign a summoning contract with whatever you are? I can sign a contract with any animal I want. I don't need you." With that, Asudai turned to leave, but the voice stopped him.

"Everything about you says that you want to sign a contract with me. You're a Sarutobi."

Asudai turned, his interest peaked. "What makes you say that I'm a Sarutobi?"

The voice laughed, and shuffled through the leaves again. "For starters, there's that knuckle knife you've got hanging from your vest. Your father, Asuma, favored that particular weapon, did he not?"

Asudai knew it was true. He'd learned the technique of using Chakra to make the blade sharp from his father; it was one of his favorite tricks.

The voice came closer, resolving into a vaguely humanoid shape. Asudai squinted, attempting to glean more details from the shadows. It looked like a giant man, but the proportions were all wrong. The arms were too long, the head was too big, the chest was too large. Was that a giant ape he was looking at?

"And in all the Jounin exams I've been a part of, I've only seen one clan take to the trees to get through the Forest of Death."

The shape came even closer, turning into a giant monkey. Asudai drew in a breath silently. This would be Enma, then. King of the monkeys. 

"So then, what do I have to do in order to get you to sign a contract with me?" Asudai questioned. Enma laughed. 

"Not much," he responded. "It's such a small thing. I propose a race between the two of us. From this branch here" Enma jumped onto Asudai's branch; it creaked dangerously under the combined weight. "To that big tree over there." He pointed to a large tree, about three hundred meters off. 

Asudai nodded. "First one to get there wins?" He asked. The monkey nodded, readying himself for the race.

"Ready….steady…GO!" Asudai shouted. The Monkey jumped off, the branch cracking from the force. Asudai didn't care, he was already on his target.

"Get off of my back, you flea!" Enma shouted angrily. Asudai grinned.

"I thought you said whoever got there first won!" He responded. Enma snorted. 

"Fine, then. But don't expect me to let you stay there." Enma resumed jumping from branch to branch, although he came much closer to branches than Asudai felt comfortable with. Enma did his best to knock the parasite off of his back, and Asudai responded by shifting position on Enma's back to avoid the branches.

After several seconds, Enma hurled himself towards the finish line, twisting so that the monkey would touch the branch before the man.

Asudai quickly climbed over Enma's shoulder and channeled his chakra to his feet. Using that extra energy, Asudai leapt from Enma's shoulder and snagged a branch on the tree directly before Enma slammed his huge bulk into the trunk.

The force from the blow made Asudai lose his tenuous grip on the branch, and he fell. Scanning the area for another branch he could grab onto, he was interrupted by a giant hand which snagged the collar of his vest.

"You won, boy." Enma grinned. "It wouldn't do for my partner to kill himself in a fall right before he signed the contract, would it?"

After setting Asudai back on a branch, Enma reached into a knothole and withdrew a giant scroll. Opening it to the first open space, Asudai bit his thumb and signed his name and fingerprints in blood. Warmth entered his arm, the scroll rolled up, and Enma stashed it back in the tree. 

"Come on, boy. Let's get you back to the Jounin in style, huh?"

Swinging Asudai onto the familiar position on Enma's back, Enma began swinging through the trees at speeds faster than Asudai had thought possible. Enma threw himself off of one last branch, clearing the fence and landing right in the middle of the Jounin game of blackjack.

While Lee frantically tried to insist that he'd had an ace and a king and Neji informed him that he'd actually had a ten and an eight, Asudai demonstrated knowledge of the Kuchiyose no Jutsu, calling a small chimpanzee to his cause.

After that, he settled down with the other two chuunin to complete the first test, and waited for the rest to arrive.

***

Naruto examined the motley crew before him. The thirty Chuunin had arrived, and the first test was now over. Summons had gone from deer to monkeys to lizards to a platypus. One person had even signed a contract with a beetle. Checking for faces, Naruto saw the three leaf nin who had entered, Nara, Uchiha, and Sarutobi. He also recognized the stone ninja Neji had mentioned. There were no others that Naruto knew off the top of his head.

Clearing his throat, he got the attention of the test takers.

"Hey! So now you guys all have a Kuchiyose no Jutsu contract signed with an animal. Don't be afraid to use it if you have to; the animal knew what they were doing when you signed the contract. Anyway, we've got the thirty chuunin who advance, so let's get this show on the road."

Neji stepped up and took over. "For your next test, we've divided you into ten teams of three. I'll read your names off now."

Asudai was in a team with a Sand nin and a Mist nin. Inoka and Hana were together with the scarred Stone nin.

"Now. In one week, your team will be assigned an A-rank mission. One of the Jounin proctors will accompany you on this mission. He will be watching you, although he will not interfere in the mission. The proctor will be watching for certain traits and skills. If you demonstrate these traits and skills, you'll move on. If you don't, then you're out."

The stone ninja raised his hand. "What are these skills we're supposed to demonstrate?" He asked curiously.

Neji smiled coldly at him. "If we told you that, then it wouldn't be a test, now, would it?"

***

Next time on Last Step: Inoka and Hana must work together with the mysterious Stone nine, while Asudai has to get along with both Sand and Mist. While their proctors are completely unhelpful, these two teams need to complete an A rank mission, while at the same time trying to demonstrate what they haven't been told. In this case, what you don't know, can hurt you.

***

Author's note: EDIT: Oops. Sorry, guys. I was in so much of a rush to get this chapter out, I failed to do some basic things. Like editing, for example. So here's a chapter that NOT a piece of crap. How's is it? I caught a couple minor errors that I made, and added in an extra page and a half of two people dying. Just wanted to make sure you guys understood that this test was dangerous. I got some complaints about making it too easy. Sorry!

[1]: Asuma, the jounin leader of the ShikaInoChou team, has the surname of Sarutobi. It's unknown right now if he and Hokage the Third are related.

[2] The Nara clan has a field of deer which they raise, near Konoha. Shika, if you didn't know, means Deer. For more info on the Nara field of deer, I'd recommend you go and read "Fields", by Gemin16. It's a good story, with touches of ShikaIno. Go and read it, if that's a pairing you like.

[3] Chichi is a familiar form of the word Father, in Japanese. If it's somebody else's father, you call them Otou-san. If it's your father, you can call them Tou-san, or Chichi. Hana calls his father Chichi, and his mother Haha. You already know who they are.

Whoops. That took a while. Sorry, guys. Lots of stuff happened. See, first, it was Easter. And it was my birthday, as well. On April eleventh, Easter Sunday, I turned sixteen. Yeah. It was pretty cool. Then, on the next day, it was my dad's birthday. 

And all last week, I had to do this thing for school, which, I swear to god, required me to play a crapload of video games. I'm dead serious. It's this thing my school does, called Project Week. I signed up for the Education in the Video Game Industry one, so we went to Nintendo, went to Microsoft, toured Bungie, and of course, played lots and lots of video games. It was fun, but very time consuming.

So. The first part of the Jounin Exam is finished. I did my best to give each animal their own personality; The deer speaks very different from the salamander, who speaks differently from Enma. I'll give names to the deer and the salamander eventually. It didn't come up in this chapter, and I didn't have enough time to try and figure out what they should be called; I thought it was more important to get the chapter out. I'll spend some time browsing the net, and I'll see if I can come up with some names.

And there's a new Chuunin that I introduced, as well. Sarutobi Asudai was something of an afterthought. Lee mentioned him in the beginning of the chapter, so when I was wrapping up Hana's contract, I decided that I should try to make this chapter a little bit longer. It is, by the way. This is 12 pages of story, instead of the normal 10. According to the word count, that gives you guys an extra thousand words or something. Think of that as my apology for getting this chapter out so late.

There are also a couple people I should thank for helping me. Lackey H helped me with the Jounin Exam stuff, and Gemin16 cheered me up when I was down with girl troubles and other stuff. That Ducky Cup song works wonders.

Also: People have been telling me that the URL that I posted doesn't work. Rather than trying to figure out what's wrong, just do this: Do a web search for Rokudaime. You're looking for Rokudaime: A Naruto shrine. The picture is on that site, under the "Walls" section. 

One last note: a couple people have been asking me questions like, "Where is this story going?" and "What happened to Kutsu's mom?" Doubtless, people will ask me questions like, "Who did the elk sign a contract with?"

Alright. Where is the story going? I've only got a vague idea. Probably what I'll do is set up an entire alternate universe with this story. I'll go a certain distance with this story, then I'll finish it. After that, I'll start a new one, a couple years ahead. That way, I don't have just one story with a billion chapters in it. It'll be like Apple-Chan and her "Promises" thing. 

Questions about the story, feel free to ask. Just be aware that I probably won't answer. Lots of these little things I'm mentioning, I'm planning to write a chapter about later. If I answer them, it would ruin the chapter, and that'd be no fun. So I keep my secrets.

Alright, that's it. I'm going into my spring break now, so I don't know how fast I'll get the next one out. I'll try to do it faster, but I'm afraid to make a promise I might break. Sorry!


	7. Two week's notice

The Naruto concept belongs to Masashi Kishomoto. This specific story concept, and any original characters contained within, belong to me.

***

Last Step 6.5: Two Week's Notice

***

The day, short at it was so far, was full of distractions. His alarm clock was going off. Breakfast was cooking downstairs. His mother was banging on the door. His sister was stomping around downstairs, gathering her gear. And his father was /pa-chi/ placing stones on the goban.

And yet, through it all, Shikashi remained lying in bed. Throwing an arm out, he smacked the OFF button on his clock. That got rid of one distraction, at least. 

"I'm coming!" He called to his mother, pacifying another.

  
"Finally!" She called back. "I swear, if only you were more like your sister." She walked back down the hall, and Shikashi shut his eyes. He'd heard those words so many times before, and he was just as sick of them now as he was when his mother first started using them. His sister, Inoka, was perfect, as far as his mother was concerned. She was currently preparing for the second part of the Jounin exams, having completed the first part with flying colours. Ino spent her days wishing that her son had the same motivation and drive that his older sibling had.

All Shikashi wanted was to be alone. He didn't need a wife. He didn't need a sister. He didn't need this genius intellect and skill he'd been /blessed/ with. He just wanted to live a nice, easy life. Like his father.

Che. Look at how /that/ turned out. You never achieved what you think you want.

Shikashi rolled out of bed lazily. He flopped on the floor with a muffled /thump/. Sleepily picking himself up, he gathered his clothes and cast a curious eye towards the calendar. 

Shit. No wonder his mother was banging on the door. Today was his day to tend the deer. 

With an unexpected burst of energy, Shikashi threw his clothes on, grabbed a knapsack, and burst out of his room, dashing down the halls. He snatched a piece of toast from the plate on the table, waving a quick goodbye to his parents. He ran past his sister, but didn't manage to avoid her hug. She did, however, notice his hurry, and took care to spin him around so as to avoid any loss of momentum. 

Leaping out of the door, Shikashi went on autopilot. He'd made this run thousands of times before, knew the quickest way to get there automatically. He ran along the edge of a hill for several hundred paces before jumping and sliding down the loose dirt to the field. Sprinting through the tall grass, he avoided the ferret holes and vaulted the familiar fence. He knew exactly how tall it was, exactly where one post was sunk just a little deeper than the others, where one flat was nailed in at just a little bit of an angle. 

Having reached his destination, he finally slowed and allowed his heart rate to return to something vaguely resembling normal. A small deer came up and nuzzled his hand; he tore off a piece of toast and gave it to the animal. He was glad to see it walking, a coyote attack had injured its leg a few months back, and Shikashi had been worried that it would be lamed for life.

He sat on a fencepost, the top worn smooth from countless ninja sitting countless times on it already. Every member of the Nara clan had to put in some time watching the deer fields; it was part of their legacy. 

He reached into the knapsack he had packed last night, withdrawing some dried fruit. Closing his eyes, he munched on an apple-chip and began thinking about Go.

***

Almost asleep, Shikashi lay back in the grass and watched the clouds blow by slowly. He kept his ears open, listening to the rustle of fawns and elks moving through the tall grass, munching at their leisure. If he heard a sound that didn't belong (and he knew what belonged), then he'd have to go check it out.

A high pitched /yip/-ing noise echoed through the fields.

That sure as hell didn't belong in a field of deer. Shikashi jumped up and looked around, trying to identify the location, if not the source, of the sound. 

/yip/

There it was again. Shikashi's head swiveled sixty degrees, and he set off at a dead run. If there was some sort of wolf or coyote in the fields, he'd have to catch it, kill it, and figure out where it got through the fence. He hoped it was just a pup; full grown wolves could be pretty dangerous in a fight. Withdrawing three shuriken and holding them between his fingers, the genin jumped over a bush and prepared to hurl the blades at his target.

"STOP!"

A lump flew through the air and collided with Shikashi, sending the stars whirring into the ground harmlessly. Shikashi angrily bounced off the ground and hooked a kunai with his finger, still intent on killing the intruding animal. Again, that voice stopped him.

"Stop, Shikashi-kun! It's just me and Midomaru."

What the hell? Shikashi holstered his weapon and watched the lump rise to its…her…feet. "Kimiko?" He questioned. "What are you doing here?"

She stood up, blushing. "I was out running with Midomaru, and he just caught a scent and took off towards here. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you kept deer over here, otherwise I would have kept him closer to me." Her face flushed redder, and she edged towards the fence. "I guess he dug a hole underneath the fence. I'm sorry. I-I'll help you fill it in, if you want." 

Shikashi shook his head. "That's fine. I can do it." He grabbed the collapsible shovel attached to his belt, and began silently filling in the hole.

Kimiko sighed. "I'll be on my way, then. S-sorry to bother you." 

Without looking up from the hole, Shikashi stopped her. "You can stay, if you like. It's no trouble." Kimiko looked back at him, and her dog panted hopefully.

"Are you sure?" She questioned. Shikashi tamped the earth flat with the blade of his shovel, and nodded. 

"I wouldn't invite you if I wasn't sure. Midomaru can go play tag with the deer, or something. They could use the exercise. Just so long as he remembers not to hurt them, it should be fine."

Kimiko picked up her puppy and looked him straight in the eye. "You hear that?" She questioned sternly. "No biting, whatsoever. If I hear one bleat out of those deer, I'm taking you straight home." The puppy whined assent, and she set him down, watching him bound off towards the fawns. 

Shikashi chuckled. "You know, you looked very stern there, for a moment. Like a mother, almost." Kimiko activated her perma-blush, and glanced at him shyly.

"You think so?" She asked. Shikashi nodded with an easy smile, and sat on one of the struts. Pulling out a sandwich, he offered half to Kimiko. She sat next to him, and the two of them began eating lunch.

***

A young elk came up and headbutted Kimiko off of her precarious seat on the fence. Shikashi chuckled at her predicament, and explained. "He wants you to give him some food" he told her. Reaching into his pack, he flipped a small cube of salt at the elk's hoofs. The elk picked it up delicately, and crunched it to pieces with his teeth. Shikashi offered a couple cubes to Kimiko, and she took them hesitantly.

"Just put them in your palm," he instructed her. "Keep your hands open, and offer it to him." She did so, flinching when the elk came near. "He's not going to hurt you. He just wants some salt. Be gentle, now." He admonished the deer. 

Slowly and carefully, the elk lipped a single cube out of her palm. A small fawn came up and took another, while the father of the two delicately ate the third. Kimiko laughed quietly at the strange, tickling feeling of the animals licking her palm. She wiped her hands on Shikashi's shirt, and he protested good naturedly.

***

Bleating and growling from a young elk mixed with Midomaru's barking and yipping to form a bizarre animal orchestra. Kimiko stood up angrily, ready to go collar her dog, but Shikashi stopped her with his arm. "They're just wrestling," he told her. "I'd know it if he was biting one of them."

She sat down, but her eyes looked worried. "Are you sure?" She asked. "Maybe I should go and check."

He sat her down again. "I'm sure. They'd tell me, if he hurt them." She looked at him questioningly.

"You mean, you understand what they say?" She said. He grinned at her perplexity. 

"It's really not that amazing," he told her. "Your family does the same thing with their dogs, don't they?" She nodded affirmative.

"I guess so." She said. "It just seems so normal when I do it. I've never thought about doing it with other animals, as well." 

Shikashi looked over the fields, inspecting the deer. "It's not quite as amazing as it sounds, really. I don't understand what the deer say, exactly. I just know what noises they make when they want something. It's not so much a language, as it is a mutual understanding." 

Kimiko stared at the deer, her eyes bright and longing. "Still, that's so cool. They're so beautiful…I wish I could talk to them!" Shikashi looked at her, then at the deer.

"It's not hard," he told her. "I could teach you a bit, if you wanted." Kimiko looked at him hopefully. 

"Could you?" She asked. He nodded. 

"Okay, try doing this." From Shikashi's mouth issued an alien series of bleats and rattles. Kimiko laughed, then tried to imitate him. Shikashi grinned at her.

"Well, what I said was something along the lines of, come here." She laughed, and asked what she had said. With a straight face, he responded, "Do me right here, right now." 

She shrieked and hit him, almost falling off the fence. An elk came up and nudged her, making her shriek again. Shikashi laughed again, and gave her a hand up on the fence again. 

"You didn't actually mangle it that much," he informed her. "It sounded a little weird, but the message came through." 

The elk nudged Kimiko again, and Shikashi gave her another salt cube to offer.

***

As the sun began to set, the chill wind blew through the field, and Kimiko shivered. Without a word, Shikashi offered her his vest. "Won't you be cold?" She asked softly. He shook his head.

"Nah…I'm used to it. I spend lots of time down here, and it's hard to predict the temperature a lot. I end up without a vest when I should have brought one every once in a while. Once more won't hurt me." 

She donned the vest and sat, watching her breath fog in the air. "So your parents make you come out here pretty often, then?" She asked quietly. He looked at her, then went back to watching the deer.

"It's not so much that they make me. I love coming out here, away from my family. No mother to nag at me. No sister who does everything perfect. Just the deer, and they're happy with me the way I am, as long as I bring them some treats."

Kimiko thought about that for a couple minutes. "You don't like your family, then?" she asked after a while. Shikashi took his time in replying.

"It's not that I don't like them, I guess. I just…Well, my mom is a naggy person. It's the way she is. Dad was one of the smartest and best ninja in his generation, right up there with Naruto and Sasuke. He just didn't have any motivation to do well. He failed his genin exams a couple times because he couldn't be bothered to take the tests." 

Kimiko was quiet, waiting for him to continue. 

"And my mother was really motivated, but she didn't have anywhere near the ability my dad did. When Inoka, my sister, was born, she looked a lot like my mom. Same blonde hair, and everything. My parents were a bit worried when she first went to Ninja Academy, though. What if she only had her mom's ability, and none of her dads? Turns out that didn't happen. Not only does my sister have my dad's ability, she's got my mom's motivation. So my mom is happy, 'cause Inoka always tries really hard. And my dad is happy, 'cause Inoka always does really well."

Kimiko scooted a bit closer to Shikashi, her presence giving unspoken comfort. Taking a deep breath, he continued.

"So when I was born, everybody expected the same thing. Turns out I show even more ability than my dad did, but I don't have even half the motivation he had. So my mom is always nagging at me to try harder. She's always saying things like, 'If only you were more like your sister', and 'Inoka did it without me asking once'."

 Shikashi's imitation of his mother was cold and accurate. 

"She never says, you know, 'good job, Shikashi.'. She always thinks to herself that Inoka could have done it faster, or better, or with less nagging, or something." Kimiko leaned against him, her eyes closing sleepily. Not noticing, Shikashi continued with his monologue. 

"And the funny thing is, it doesn't come between my sister and I. You'd think we'd have some sort of sibling rivalry or something between us, but we don't. She's always honestly trying to help me do better. Helping me with a Jutsu so mom will get off my back, or doing the dishes so I can finish my homework. I love her to death, I just wish mom would leave me along every once in a while." 

Shikashi looked down at the girl leaning against him, and pink stained his cheeks. Was she sleeping on his chest? He reached out and arm to shake her and wake her up, but something stopped him. He got the sense that it would be a crime to keep her from getting her rest, especially when she looked as cute as that. 

A small whine made Shikashi look down. Midomaru was sitting at Shikashi's feet, waiting for something. Shikashi rolled his eyes. "Look," he muttered. "I don't speak dog, okay? Deer is pretty much my limit. If you want something, you're going to have to tell me." 

Midomaru whined again, and nudged Kimiko's foot. It flopped lifelessly. "No, she's not dead. She's just asleep."

Midomaru latched onto the toe of her shoe, and began dragging her off the fence. Shikashi stood up and grabbed her away gently. "Hey, don't do that! You'll wake her up. Let me lock up the deer fields, and I'll…I don't know. I'll carry her." Setting Kimiko down in the grass, Shikashi emptied the rest of his salt cubes into the pot near the entrance to the fields, and locked the gate. Walking back, he deposited Kimiko and her puppy on the other side, before vaulting over himself. 

Picking up the sleeping girl, he cradled her in his arms and followed her dog up the hill.

***

After several minutes of walking, Shikashi came to the entrance of a moderately sized house. While Shikashi stood on the porch, Midomaru scrambled through the dog-flap. The ninja waited patiently, listening to voices inside.

"What? She's where?" The front door burst open, and Kiba hurled himself out of it. "Where's my daughter?!" he asked roughly. Shikashi indicated the bundle in his arms. 

Just as Kiba's veins looked like they were about to burst, a calm voice stopped him. "Kiba, knock it off. He's doing us a favor by bringing her home; aren't you going to invite him in?" 

Ten-Ten stood calmly in the doorway, grinning at something. Shikashi wasn't sure if it was at him, Kimiko, or Kiba. The giant man deflated, and gestured for Shikashi to enter. Ten-Ten smiled wider, and moved aside. "I'll say it, if my husband can't. Please, won't you do us the honor of staying for tea?" Shikashi was about to decline, when a giant hand fell on his shoulder. "Of course he will, Ten-Ten. Please, go prepare the pot for us." The hand steered Shikashi through the threshold of the house as the genin muttered under his breath, "With an offer like that, how can I refuse?"

The hand tightened dangerously. "I heard that, brat." 

From the kitchen: "Kiba, knock it off and take our daughter up to bed." 

Kiba sighed, and released the boy. Gingerly taking his daughter from Shikashi, the Jounin went up the stairs, sliding a door open. After a moment, the door slid closed again, and he descended into the lobby area. "Come, boy. There's tea in the kitchen." 

Shikashi removed his shoes, and followed Kiba to the kitchen. Ten-Ten indicated a chair, and set a steaming mug of mint tea in front of him. The other two Ninja sat down, and Ten-Ten smiled at Shikashi. "Were you aware that our daughter was expected home over three hours ago?" She questioned idly, stirring her tea. Shikashi stared into his, trying to avoid the prying eyes of parents.

"No, I wasn't." He replied honestly. "I'm sorry. Had I known, I would have tried to get her back on time." Ten-Ten laughed at his obvious discomfort. 

"Oh, don't worry." She reassured him. "I'm delighted that she was out spending time with somebody. You've probably noticed, she's not the sort of person who makes a lot of friends." Shikashi nodded, and Kiba took over the conversation.

"So. Where were you, with /my/ daughter, for almost the entire day?" he rumbled semi-threateningly. Shikashi shrugged. 

"I was out tending the deer, and she came by with her puppy. The deer seemed fine with it, so I let them stay for a while."

Ten-Ten looked at him. "You were at the Nara deer fields?" She asked. "The deer let her and Midomaru run around over there?"

Shikashi nodded. "Yeah. Midomaru played tag and wrestled with some of them." 

Kiba laughed. "Well, well. My own daughter can get into the Nara deer fields." Shikashi looked at him questioningly, and Kiba clarified. "Shikamaru tried to get me out there, once. I've still got the scar on my arm. The deer didn't like the smell of dog that was on me, so they attacked."

The rest of the conversation continued casually, with Ten-Ten asking Shikashi questions about training and missions, and their teacher. She was happy that Naruto was teaching her daughter, and she seemed equally happy that Shikashi was on her team. "She needs the support somebody like you and Naruto can give her," Ten-Ten informed Shikashi. Kiba nodded agreement.

Having finished the last of his tea, Shikashi checked the clock. It was late, much later than he thought it was. "I should head home," he said. He stood up, and Ten-Ten began collecting the dishes. Kiba clapped Shikashi on the shoulder. "You seem like a good guy," he said softly. "Treat my daughter well." The genin nodded slowly, and headed out the door. As he was putting on his shoes, a voice stopped him, just like it had at the beginning of the day.

"Shikashi…" 

He looked up, and saw Kimiko in her nightgown looking down at him. "Thank you for bringing me home," she told him. He smiled at her, and waved it off.

"It was no problem," he said. "And..um…I'll be at the deer fields again next Saturday, if you and Midomaru would like to come along."

Kimiko smiled. "I would like that very much." She told him. She opened her mouth to say something more, but Kiba called at them from the kitchen. 

"Shikashi, I don't hear you leaving!" 

Kimiko muffled a giggle with her hand, and waved goodbye at Shikashi. He understood, they could talk more tomorrow. He waved back, and opened the door. "Bye, Ten-Ten, Kiba, Kimiko!" A chorus of goodbyes floated behind him as he walked down the path towards his house.

***

He opened the door, and was greeted by his mother. 

"Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to be back an hour ago. Your sister has been out looking for you in the cold for forty five minutes."

Shikashi wandered into the kitchen, answering her with a vague, "Out". Ino glared at him. 

"Out?" She responded. "You were /supposed/ to be at the deer fields today. I suppose you-" Her comment was cut short by the door opening and closing again, and Inoka entered the house.

"I found Shikashi, Mother. He's over at-" She entered the kitchen and saw her little brother. "Oh. I guess he's here, now. Never mind." She walked over to Shikashi, giving him a quick hug. "Hey, baby brother. How's life at the Inuzuka household?" 

Ino gaped. "What were you doing at the Inuzuka house?" Inoka laughed. "He was dropping off a girl, mother. She was down at the deer fields with him, and fell asleep. Kiba and Ten-Ten spent some time grilling him on what they did together. If they hadn't, he would have been on time. Don't worry about it."

Ino glared at her daughter. "My son spent all day with some girl, and I'm supposed to not worry?" She sat Shikashi down in a chair, and told Inoka to go prepare some tea. "Now," she instructed excitedly. "Tell me everything! What's she like? What's she look like? She has a puppy, right? What's his name? Is she a strong ninja?"

Inoka laughed, and patted her mother on the head. "Shikashi's not like us boys, Mother. You'll have to slow the questions down a bit if you want to get some answers out of him." 

Inoka glared at her daughter. "I'll ask as many questions as I wish, you. Besides that, why aren't I asking /you/ these questions? You're older. You've had more than enough time to find somebody, right? Why don't you have a boyfriend yet?"

Shikashi interrupted quickly. "She's not my girlfriend, mom. She's just a friend who came down to the deer fields. That's it." 

Ino kissed his forehead. "You say that now, dear. I'll ask you again in two weeks, and your answer will different. I'm just trying to get a head start on everything."

Shikamaru entered the room sleepily. "What's all the commotion about?" he asked, while pouring himself a cup of tea. Ino stood up and hugged him. "Our little boy is getting himself a girlfriend!" she cried exuberantly. "I'm so happy for him, it's so sweet!" 

Pulling away from her husband, Ino glared at her daughter. "Now if only his sister followed his lead, I'd be a grandmother soon."

Inoka shook her head. "Not happening, mother. I'm about to become a jounin. I want to spend a couple years enjoying my rank before I extend somebody's family line. Besides, there are no ninja around here that I want to date."

Ino snorted. "What about that Uchiha kid? Hana, right?" Inoka glared at her mother.

"Mother, there is no way on earth I'm going to date that arrogant, stuck up brat! He thinks he's better than everybody else, just because he's an Uchiha. I can't believe I'm on his team for the next part of the Jounin exam." While Ino made insinuations about romantic possibilities and Inoka seethed about the unfairness of life, Shikamaru looked at his son.

"So you found a girl, huh?" Shikamaru asked, sipping his tea. Shikashi nodded, having learned from experience that it was useless to try to lie to his father. Shikamaru took another drink, savoring the mint flavor.

"Well, be sure you treat her well. As long as you try your best to make her happy, that's all you need to do. Nobody, not even Kiba, will be mad at you if you do that."

Shikashi nodded, thinking about those words. Try to make her happy…He'd done that today, hadn't he? The genin yawned, and Ino quit nagging her daughter to examine her son.

"Oh my god, look at the time! Shikashi, you've got training to do tomorrow! You go right up to bed, and no buts! I mean it! You too, Inoka. You've got to prepare for the Jounin exams!"

Shikashi stood up slowly and followed his sister off to bed, still thinking about what his father said. 

Do everything you can to make her happy…Somehow, Shikashi didn't think there was anything in the world he'd rather do more.

***

Kiba and Ten-Ten sat together, watching the fire burn down, drinking some tea.

"He'll be good for her, don't worry." Ten-Ten said, suddenly. Kiba jumped. 

"I wasn't thinking about that!" He insisted. Ten-Ten laughed, and tweaked his nose. "Silly, you haven't thought of anything else since he showed up. So I'm telling you. He's a Nara. He'll be entirely devoted to her, just like Shikamaru is to Ino. There's nothing you need to worry about, so just let it happen."

Kiba nodded slowly, and stood up, carrying his wife. "Well then, let's get off to bed," he muttered. Walking to the bedroom, he deposited his wife, stripped off his clothes, and climbed, falling asleep almost instantly. Ten-Ten embraced him gently, and fell asleep as well.

***

Next time on Last Step: The Jounin exams, part two! I promise!

***

Author's note: Heh. Sorry, you guys. This is somewhat of an apology chapter. I was in a big rush to get Chapter Six out for all of you, I forgot to do some basic things. Like, oh, editing. As such, it was riddled with mistakes, which you all promptly caught and told me about. Good for you.

Quick question I want to answer: Somebody asked me how Lee became a Jounin, if all he can do is Taijutsu? Well, I'll tell you.

I don't know. How'd the guy become a genin, or a chuunin? Actually, if you read Betrothal (An excellent story by Lackey H), there's gonna be an excellent explanation of Summoning and why Lee might be able to do it. It's cool. I won't spoil it for you, but it's cool. Short of stealing Lackey H's ideas to explain my plot holes, I honestly don't know how Lee became a jounin. He just did.

Wow. I started out writing this, intending that it would be just a short little three page one-shot with some ShikaKimi fluff. Then it didn't end until the tenth page, and I decided to make it a bonus chapter as an apology for the low quality of chapter six. I'll try to do better from now on, I promise.

So what did you all think? It didn't advance the story that much, but I've heard lots of people saying that they think Shikashi and Kimiko go well together, so I thought I'd write it. It was more fun than I thought it would be.

Okay, I'm done. Good? Bad? Let me know.


	8. Trials and Tribulations

The Naruto concept is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This specific story concept, and any original characters contained within, are my own.

---

Previously on The Last Step: Inoka, Hana, and Asudai all completed the first part of the Jounin Exam. Now, Inoka and Hana need to work together with a mysterious Stone ninja, while Asudai is placed with a Sand nin and a Mist nin. Meanwhile, could the friendship between Shikashi and Kimiko be turning into something more?

---

Last Step 8: Trials and Tribulations

---

"If we told you that, it wouldn't be a test, now, would it?"

Those words echoed hauntingly through Hana's mind. He was going on an A-rank mission. This would be his hardest mission yet. He was confident that he could complete it.

And yet, he still had that shadow of doubt. It was that damn woman! Nara Inoka was one of the most irritating and obnoxious people Hana had ever had the displeasure of meeting. She signed a contract with, of all things, a giant elk. A skittish, timid creature. How would that be helpful in the fight? On top of that, the woman was just unimaginably horrible to him. She constantly had to do everything better or faster or just more than he did. He'd be happy to just be a ninja alongside her, one of the two best in the village. He never said they had to compete.

But for some reason, Inoka always had to be better than he did. She just turned every little thing into a damn competition. And Hana would be damned if he was going to let her prove to everybody that she was better than him. Especially since she wasn't.

It didn't matter. Hana knew that he could carry her part of the team, as well as his. He just hoped that freakish stone ninja would be able to work. Hana didn't have time to be playing babysitter to two different ninja.

Sighing, he began training again. Work always calmed him down.

---

The chill night air blew through the village. Asudai shivered, and pulled his vest a little closer to his body. He shifted position slightly, leaning against the pole on his roof.

Reaching into his vest, he pulled out his knuckle knife. Holding it loosely in his fist, he stared at the blade absentmindedly. Focusing his chakra into the edge of the knife, he willed the blade as sharp as he could make it. He delighted in the blue glow gathering around the edge and tip.

Retrieving a pebble from his breast pocket, Asudai flicked the small stone up in the air. As it began to fall towards earth, he lashed out at it with his knife. The two halves fell to the roof with a small clatter. Asudai reached out a hand and picked up the shorn piece of rock. Feeling the perfect surface with his fingers, he smiled and put the knife away.

The knife had been a present from his father, now in his fifties and just as active as ever. Asuma had devoted all the time he could to his son, perhaps to make up for the lack of a female in the family. Asuma and his girlfriend had never seen fit to get married, even when Asudai came along. Eventually, the girl drifted away from Asuma, and the kid didn't. Whenever Asudai felt lonely, his dad or a friend of his dad's had spent some time with him. Kakashi taught him some cool technique, or Gai trained him in some Taijutsu thing. When Asudai became a genin, his dad had given the knife to him, and spent over three months teaching him tricks to do with it. It was Asudai's most prized possession.

He'd spent the day training and doing exercises with the two other ninja that would accompany him on the mission. All three of them knew that they'd never be able to complete the mission if they didn't understand how to work together. By being paired up, they each had an obligation to do well, and succeed.

So he should probably get into his house and start sleeping. It was late out, and it was cold. Being sick or being tired would affect his performance in the second part of the test tomorrow, and then he'd be letting his teammates down. And Sarutobi Asudai never, ever let people down.

Sliding the skylight open silently, Asudai dropped into his room, burrowed into his nest of blankets on his futon, and began sleeping, his mind dreaming of pretty girls and glowing knives and the dark, jounin vest.

---

She actually woke up automatically, just a couple seconds before her alarm clock began whining shrilly. It was a talent that she'd discovered and spent time cultivating, the ability to wake up at a specific time, no alarm needed. It had been useful on many of her missions as a chuunin, and Inoka was glad to see it wasn't deserting her now.

Rolling out of bed, Inoka dressed automatically and began ambling downstairs, her thoughts occupied with her first A-rank mission, occurring later today. Would she have to go undercover? Retrieve something? Kill somebody? Inoka shivered at that last one. She'd kill if she had to, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Not like that Uchiha guy. She swore, that guy positively enjoyed inflicting pain on other people. It was creepier than that Shino person she'd seen watching over some Genin team.

A loud clap startled her out of her internal reverie. Inoka blinked owlishly at her mother, who happened to be staring at her impatiently.

"What?" Inoka asked, slowly coming to realize where she was. Ino sighed and indicated the boxes in her hands.

"Do you want waffles or pancakes for breakfast?" Ino asked. She could remember her own Jounin exam mission, and knew that she had been just as preoccupied as her daughter was now.

Inoka yawned and indicated a box with one hand. "Pancakes, please." She told her mother. Ino nodded and began mixing powder and water automatically, no longer bothering to measure. She'd done this so many times that she could make breakfast for her entire family while still asleep. Come to think of it, she had.

Shikamaru entered and sat down in a chair, his head drooping forward. On her way to the faucet, Ino rapped his head sharply with the spatula.

"Get up and say hello to your daughter, lazy-bones. She's going on the second part of the exam today, remember?"

Shikamaru glanced at his wife, then focused his attention on Inoka. "Remember what you've learned," he cautioned the girl. "You signed the contract. Don't be afraid to use it, if you have to. The deer are resourceful creatures, they can find a way to help even when you think there's nothing to be done. Even if it's only extending your shadow or distracting somebody for the Shintenshin, it helps."

The hissing noise of water on a hot griddle rattled through the kitchen, and Ino began pouring batter onto the oil-slicked surface. As the scent of good food began to fill the house, Shikashi swung the door open.

"Is Mom cooking pancakes?" He asked, sniffing the air. Inoka nodded at him, and grinned lopsidedly as he wandered over and innocently swiped a finger through the bowl of pancake batter. He licked his finger clean while Ino mercilessly battered him with the spoon, and both Shikamaru and Inoka smiled. He pulled his daughter close to him and whispered one last piece of advice in her ear.

"Remember the point of the mission. It's not about you, and it's not about Hana. You don't need to prove that you're a better ninja than he is, because that's not what the examiner will be looking for. As long as you show him that you can work with a partner or by yourself and get the mission accomplished at all costs, then you'll be just fine. And no matter what, you're my daughter. That alone is enough to make me proud of you."

Inoka smiled good naturedly and struggled away from her father. Playfully, he grasped her arm and hugged her fiercely, letting her go only when Ino set a plate of four perfectly browned pancakes in front of him.

"Let your daughter go and permit her to eat her breakfast. She needs to build up her strength for today." Shikashi grinned at her mischievously. Inoka recognized the signal and quickly slid her place setting to another part of the table.

"I'll only let her go if you agree to take her place!" growled Shikamaru fiercely. Snagging his wife by her apron, he pulled the shrieking and laughing bundle into his lap and began nuzzling her playfully, while at the same time, tickling her in the weak point he'd discovered after years of marriage: Her sides. As she called helplessly that she needed to cook breakfast for her son as well, Shikashi pointedly looked away and began cooking his own pancakes.

Inoka stood up from the table, walking over to the stove.. She gave her brother a hug and grabbed the syrup from the counter, then sat back down. He followed her, flipping two more pancakes onto her plate while preparing to eat two of his own.

Inoka grinned. "That's why I love you, little guy. You're always thinking of the person who matters." He smiled slightly.

"You're the one taking the test today. You'll need all the energy you can get. I'm probably just going to go out training with Kimiko. That's really only a one or two pancake activity."

Inoka's eyes lit up. "Is this martial training," she asked, keeping a straight face, "Or marital training? The difference is important." Looking up, she grinned at him and Shikashi threw a pat of butter at her face.

"Oh my god! Inoka, you need to be heading out the door right now!" Ino, face flushed from the bonding with her husband, slid the pancakes out of her daughter's reach. "If you eat before strenuous activity, you'll throw up. Go."

Inoka sighed and kissed her mother on the cheek. "I'll see you later, then. I'll come back when I can." She hugged both her father and her brother, quickly bolting out the door.

Ino sighed, watching the door swing shut. "Do you think she'll be okay?" she asked, worry obvious in her voice. Shikamaru pulled her back into his lap and held her tight.

"She'll be fine," he whispered in her ear. "She's your daughter, after all. Have faith in her."

Ino nodded, biting her lip. As Shikashi began eating his pancakes, Ino shrieked once again.

"Gah! I was thinking! You can't do that while I'm thinking!"

Shikamaru snickered and resumed tickling his wife.

---

"If you're not here by now, then you're disqualified. Above all, a ninja should be prompt. If you're not on time, then you or your comrades could die."

As Naruto listened to Neji lecturing the chuunin gathered in a mob at the gate to the village, he snickered to himself. "Kakashi should come and take this exam again, in that case. He wouldn't pass in a million years."

Although the comment was to himself, Hinata was sitting next to him and the sound drifted into her ears. She laughed softly, and he grinned at her. "No, seriously." He said quietly. "Kakashi was never on time for anything. He came up with these crap excuses every time."

Naruto began reciting excuses Kakashi had used. "I got lost on the road of life. I helped an old woman across the street. My almanac said today was unlucky. A black cat crossed my path."

With each sentence, Hinata's laughter grew more and more. She had her hand stuffed in her mouth to keep from giggling out loud, but Naruto continued, smiling broadly. "Once, we all just cut practice, just to give him a taste of his own medicine. He showed up at our houses in the middle of the night and dragged us out to train. That was the worst night of my life."

Hinata couldn't hold it back anymore, and she laughed loudly, her cheeks blushing. Instantly, Neji stopped speaking and glared at the duo, his pale eyes accusing. The group of chuunin began laughing as well, and Neji quickly transferred his glare to the lesser ranked ninja. They all shut up in a hurry, and he continued his speech.

"Dipwad." Naruto muttered, eliciting a stifled giggle from Hinata. Neji pointedly ignored them, and Naruto smiled. Leaning back in his chair, he began to listen to whatever it was Neji was droning on about.

"…team will be given their own mission. Each team will also be accompanied by a jounin proctor, who will be examining you and watching you. He will not come to your aid during the mission, no matter what. If you will die unless he helps, then you're not coming home. Jounins do A-rank missions all the time. If you don't think you can handle it, then raise your hand now. I'll fail you and you can try again next time the test comes around."

Pausing, Neji swept his eyes across the crowd. Several hands slowly floated into the air, and Neji waved at them dismissively. "Get out of here," he said. "You and your team fail the exam. Try again next time."

Nine people departed from the crowd, leaving only four teams of three remaining.

"If you're still here, then I assume you want to attempt the mission. I'll read out your team, your mission, and your inspector. The teams will begin the missions immediately."

Neji paused for a moment, then began listing the teams.

"Team one, with the examiner of Uzumaki Naruto, will be retrieving a scroll from a yakuza den. Leave now."

Naruto stood up, an easy grin on his face. "That's my cue, I guess. Good luck on your own assignment, Hinata!" She blushed and nodded. As Naruto and his team exited the village, Neji continued with the assignments.

"Team three, with the examiner of Aburame Shino, will be escorting a foreign dignitary through the countries of Fire and Wind. Leave now."

Without a word, Shino left with his team. Asudai tried to strike up a conversation with him as they began to leave, but his attempt fell flat.

"Team four, with the examiner of Hyuuga Hinata, will be assassinating a corrupt government official. Leave now."

Silently, Hinata stood up and exited the village, her team in tow.

"Team six, with the examiner of Hyuuga Neji, will be rescuing a prisoner from a rogue group of ninja. Leave now."

Rolling up the scroll, Neji walked towards the exit of the village, Hana and Inoka following him, the stone ninja just behind them. Quietly, Lee watched them go.

"So who do you think will pass?" He asked after Neji had passed out of hearing range. Tsunade shimmered into view beside him.

"You knew I was there, huh?" She asked, grinning slightly. He turned to face her.

"Of course I did. You didn't exactly make it a secret that you were watching."

Tsunade signed, gazing at the horizon. "I like to watch the chuunin taking the exam. I want to see the jounin of the next generation. I watched you become a Jounin, Lee. I remember thinking that you wouldn't make it, that you didn't have the ability. And I was wrong."

Lee looked from her face to the horizon, and back. "So do you think you're wrong about who will be promoted, this time?"

Tsunade turned away, and began walking towards her office. "Nope. I know exactly who's going to pass." With that, she exited.

Lee laughed. "She couldn't be bothered to tell me who?" He muttered. As the breeze swept through the clearing, Lee went off to practice his taijutsu, clearing his mind of the exam.

---

The clouds drifted by, and a rock bounced off his head.

"Hey, watcha doing?"

Shikashi looked at his teammate, and blinked some dirt out of his eye. "Thinking." He responded softly. Closing the conversation, he looked back at the clouds.

Another rock bounced off his head, and Kutsu stooped to pick up more. "Whatcha thinking about?" He asked.

Shikashi glared at him. "Nothing that involves you. Stop throwing rocks at me."

A third rock bounced off of his head, and Kutsu snickered. "You're feeling friendly today. I thought you were going to be training right now."

Shikashi snatched a pebble from the ground and hurled it at the infuriating boy. It flew straight into Kutsu's fingertip, and he yelped, dropping the rest of the stones in his hand.

"If you don't have anything to do besides bug me, then go train with Naruto or something. I'm thinking. It's not exactly a spectator sport."

Kutsu sat down next to Shikashi, sucking on his finger. "Naruto's gone. Left to do some stupid test with the jounin exam, or something. He told me to come train with you if I wanted to get better." He took his finger out of his mouth and examined it. "So here I am. Train me. Mold me."

Shikashi's eyebrow twitched. God, this kid was annoying. "I don't have anything to teach you. Go talk to one of the people still here, get them to train you. I doubt all the jounin are gone."

Kutsu closed his eyes, reveling in the feeling of the breeze washing over his face. "Can't. All the jounin are busy with the exam. They're all gone." An acorn fell onto his forehead, and he sat up abruptly. "Hey!" He stated indignantly. Shikashi laughed at him.

"I didn't do it. And besides, you had it coming." Shikashi picked the offending acorn up and rolled it between his fingers. "Anyway, some of the jounin will be here. It's unlikely that all of the chuunin decided to advance within the test, so some teams have probably already failed. Ergo, some jounin proctors are still here in the village. Go find one."

Kutsu snorted. "Why would anybody bow out of the exam? They're just doing a mission, right?"

Shikashi chucked the acorn at him, drawing another yelp. "It's not just a mission, you idiot. It's an A-Rank mission, and the jounin need to do it with two partners that they probably haven't worked with before. If they screw up, they'll die. Some people get this far and decide they're not ready, so they just fail themselves. They'll try it again next year, and that'll be that."

Kutsu looked at him, rubbing the forming bruise on his forearm. "You sure know a lot about this exam. What's the deal?"

Shikashi sighed softly. "My sister's taking it right now. So I've been hearing a lot about the exam from my parents."

Kutsu was silent, lending support to his teammate.

"Ano…Shikashi-kun?" The soft voice broke through the lull in the conversation, and Shikashi looked over his shoulder. He smiled involuntarily, and Kutsu turned around to see the speaker.

"Hey, Kimiko." He greeted lazily. She nodded a greeting to him, and turned her attention back to Shikashi.

"Um..You said we could train together again?"

Shikashi nodded, and stood up to leave. Kimiko looked at Kutsu, now. "Uh…I'm sure it would be fine if you came with us, Kutsu. I mean, if you want to…"

He smiled and waved her away. "Nah, I'm just about to go find a jounin, anyway. You two go off and do your training thing, I'll see you all when Naruto gets back."

Whistling, he walked down the path towards the village, and Kimiko turned to her training partner. "Should we go a little further into the woods, then?"

He nodded, and they walked into the forest, hand in hand.

---

"So, you'll need to be on the watch for enemy ninja. Can you do it?"

Asudai grinned. "Of course we can. We're…well, we're almost Jounin. We'll protect you with our lives, don't worry."

The dignitary nodded. "You guys aren't Jounin, yet? I thought…" Shino broke in quietly before the sentence was completed.

"I myself am a jounin, but I won't be participating in the mission. I'm simply here as an observer. I will not aid anybody during the mission, it's up to the three chuunin from here on out."

Again, the dignitary nodded. "Fair enough. Anyway, you guys can call me Hideki. Shall we set off towards our destination?"

The sand ninja and Asudai nodded. The mist ninja just smirked and leaned over to Asudai and the sand nin. "Does anybody have a change of clothes we could loan this guy?"

Shino faded out of view, and the sand nin turned to Hideki, throwing a bag at him. Hideki caught it, startled.

"What's this?" he asked curiously. As the sand nin began running through seals, the mist nin stopped and explained what was going on.

"Since you're the target, we're going to apply a little misdirection. The bag is a change of clothes that you should put on. There's a handkerchief in there for you to cover your face, so you'll look like one of us. And to replace you, Maki here will use a quick henge to alter his looks a bit…"

A puff of smoke swirled, and a copy of Hideki stood there. Hurriedly, the actual Hideki began throwing on the new clothes. As that went on, Asudai took over the explanation.

"If we meet up with enemy ninja, they'll target the person who looks like you, because they hope to catch us off guard. Maki will be paying attention, and he'll dodge whatever they throw at him. You and I will fight together, and I'll help you pretend to loose. They'll take Maki, and he'll transform and kill them when they're not expecting it."

Hideki quickly put the handkerchief on to cover his face, but Asudai thought he saw a hint of paleness. He clapped the man on the shoulder. "Don't worry. It probably won't come to something as brutal as that. We'll most likely only have to fight for a couple minutes, then they'll run away. But it takes most of the risk off of your shoulders, see?"

Hideki nodded, and began walking, Asudai at his side. Maki went between them, and the mist ninja got in front. Turning his head, he introduced himself as Haruze to Hideki, then continued walking.

Crouching on a branch in a tree, Shino pulled out a notebook and made a couple marks, noting their plan and the execution of it. Stealthily, he jumped away to follow them, intent on seeing how their idea turned out.

---

"The prisoner is kept in the eastern wing of the area, in an underground room room that is guarded day and night. You must retrieve him and bring him back to the village alive. Under that condition, you must complete this mission by yourselves. If you fail in any way, then you fail the exam and will be kept a chuunin for another year. And you have two days to complete the mission, else the target will be killed by the enemy."

On that cheerful note, Neji faded out of view.

"He's got a stick up his ass," snorted the stone nin. Inoka hit him quickly.

"You idiot, he's still here, even if you can't see him. He's going to be seeing how we do on this mission, remember?"

Coolly, the stone nin lit a cigarette and lifted it to his lips, inhaling softly. "I know. But you've got to agree, he could have been a bit more supportive just now."

Hana picked the cigarette out of the ninja's fingers and crushed it under his heel. "He's not here to be supportive, and he's not here to watch you try to look cool by smoking. He's here to watch us complete a mission, so let's get on with it."

The stone ninja glared at Hana. "You owe me a cigarette." Hana pointedly ignored him and began walking towards the direction that Neji had indicated. The stone nin fell into step with Inoka and whispered in her ear, "I made a mistake. /He's/ the one with the stick up his ass."

Inoka tried to muffle her snicker, but she didn't quite succeed. Hana angrily wheeled and glared at the two of them. "Unlike the rest of you, I actually want to be a jounin, that's why I'm taking this stupid test. I'd appreciate it if the rest of you didn't screw this up, thank you very much."

His tirade finished, Hana resumed walking and the two ninja on his team joined him. "Whatever you say, flower-boy. I'm Boushi, by the way."

Hana flushed and didn't respond. Hidden by genjutsu, Neji made a mark on his sheet and began following the Chuunin.

---

A bird whistled loudly, and Hideki started. Asudai clapped him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry. Us three are here to protect you, and we don't intend to fail." Hideki nodded, but his face was still pale.

"Here. Want some water?" Haruze offered a water bottle to Hideki, and the man took it. Gulping some water gratefully, he handed the bottle back to Haruze just as an arrow arced its way through the bottle. Hideki dropped it quickly, and fell automatically into place beside Haruze and Asudai, in a triangle surrounding Maki. No less than twelve archers faded into view around the group, and a bandit stepped up to talk.

"We've got you surrounded by archers. We didn't need to miss with the water bottle. Give us the man you are protecting, and we'll let you live. Or, we could fill you all with arrows, and then take the man. It's your choice."

The bandit was eloquent and straightforward. Asudai noted that curiously, even as he was silently sending Maki forward to be taken. Hideki began to shake softly, and Haruze placed a calming hand on his arm. "Don't worry," Haruze whispered. "We're in control of the situation."

Maki walked forward, doing his best to quiver like he was afraid. Hideki watched him, doing his best not to quiver like he was afraid. The bandit leader watched them both, doing his best not to quiver from anticipation.

Nobody was really succeeding.

"C'mere, now. We promise this won't hurt a bit…" One of the bandits ushered Maki forward just a little more, then drew his sword, the ring echoing through the clearing. "I'll make it fast, see?"

Because a ninja needs entertainment, Maki dropped the Henge before attacking. The look on the bandit's face was priceless as his neck was slashed, Maki reflected. He wheeled and buried a kunai in another man's forehead before leaping back to the group. The bandit leader slashed his hand through the air, a prearranged signal, and the archers all fired in unison.

Asudai quickly swept Hideki's feet from beneath him, then pulled him down, out of the way of the arrows.

Hideki's shriek at the unfolding events captured the attention of the bandit leader. He glared at the group, his mouth curling into an ugly frown. "Clever trick, you four. You made it a fun game, but I don't like losing!"

Drawing his sword, the leader charged the group of ninja. He had technique, made obvious by the way he was moving, the way he held his sword.

"At least you know what you're doing," yawned Asudai. "But you're still playing jan ken pon." He buried a kabuto-wari [1] in the man's head, and grinned at the falling body. "Come back when you're ready to play some shogi."

After their leader fell, the rest of the bandits continued the attack haphazardly, but they were far too nervous to really do anything. Hideki hissed softly as an arrow buried itself in his thigh, and Asudai quickly stepped in front of him, shielding him from more danger. He blocked three more arrows while the other two ninja made short work of the remaining bandits.

"Here. Let me see your leg." Haruze used a kunai to slice away the fabric of Hideki's pants, and exposed the wound. Reaching into a pouch on his back, he withdrew some bandages and a small tube. "This might sting a little," he cautioned before rubbing the paste from the tube into the wound. Hideki sucked in his breath, but refrained from making noise. With that done, Haruze began wrapping the bandage around the wound, quickly and competently. Tearing it with his teeth, he cinched the wrap one last time, then tucked the loose end underneath the coils.

"Try walking on it now," he told Hideki. The man got up and began stumping around the area.

"It feels pretty good," he said. "A little stiff, but it doesn't hurt. I should be able to walk to the next town."

Haruze smiled and began packing up his supplies. Asudai stretched.

"So, that didn't seem too hard. I'm surprised this is an A-rank mission. I mean, fighting bandits like that is a C rank. The addition of protecting Hideki should only make it a B, at the most. What's up?"

Hideki looked at him nervously, still walking around and loosening up his leg. "Well, that was just an incidental fight, I think." He confessed. "The real problems will happen when we get to the town. See, I don't have any sort of object that's valuable. But…" He tapped his head. "I know some things that certain people would kill for. Or kill me for." He trailed off, looking nervous again.

Maki laughed. "C'mon. We're almost jounin, and there are three of us. We should be able to take on some stupid street gang, or whatever it is. I'll do anything I have to to make sure that you get to where you need to be, Hideki."

The person in question smiled faintly. "Thanks. I'm doing something very important, so it's nice to know I can count on you."

---

"So there's the building. We've only got 18 hours left to get in there, find the prisoner, and get out again."

Boushi snorted. "Only? I believe you mean still, man. How long do you honestly think it's going to take to get in there? We know where the guy's being kept, right? What'd that white-eyed proctor guy say, again?"

Inoka chose not to take sides in the argument, electing to be the devil's advocate. "Hana's right. We should be taking this a little more seriously, Boushi. The target is being kept in the eastern wing of the complex, in an underground room. So first we need to get inside, then we need to find our way to the basement. Then we need to get out again. It could take us a while."

She glanced up at the sun, then down at the complex. Pointing, Inoka indicated set of buildings. "That's the wing we want. Anybody know how we get there?"

Hana looked at the area she was pointing at. "If that's where we need to get to, then we can just traverse across this cliff face. It'll be slow, but we can get there in time."

Boushi shook his head. "Too slow, too open. I got a contract with a bird in the last part of this test, I could just summon something big enough to carry us over there. It's much faster, and people probably won't notice us."

Hana's disbelief was obvious in his voice. "You think people won't notice a giant bird landing in the middle of their fortress??

Boushi shrugged. "Who's going to admit to themselves that they saw a giant bird flying over their place? And besides, we'll be killing everybody in the area we land in, anyway. It doesn't matter if they see us."

---

"Look, over there! It's the town, see?"

Hideki glanced up, and nodded. "Yeah…That's where I need to go." His face was beaded with sweat, and Haruze looked at him, concerned.

"Hey, you okay? Is your leg bothering you or something?"

Hideki shook his head, but he stumbled on a rock and fell, revealing the red stain on his bandage. He grinned weakly at his body guards. "It hurts a bit, but I'll be fine. Let's just keep on moving, it'd take too much time to try and bandage it again."

Maki looked concerned, but he didn't object. He picked Hideki up and looped one arm around the man's torso. "Put your arm over my shoulder, I'll help you."

Hideki started to complain, but Maki tapped the wound with his foot, and Hideki grunted. "As long as you react like that," Maki stated, "I'm going to help you walk. It's my job to make sure you get to wherever you need to be, so shut up and let me work."

---

Boushi slowly went through the seals, making sure each one was correct before moving on to the next. Biting his thumb, he slammed his palms into the ground, calling out "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" as he did so. Blood-red characters streamed from his hands, and grew to become a giant hawk.

The raptor stretched and spread its wings for a moment before opening its eyes and looking at Boushi.

"Oh, it's you. Geez, if I had known you'd actually be able to do this whole summoning thing, I'd never have signed with you. What do you want?"

Boushi stood up, tottering slightly from the summoning. "We need you to fly the three of us over to that area." He said, pointing at the location. "And then if you could stick around for a bit and kill anybody who goes outside until we come back, that'd be fantastic. And I'll catch you a big deer or something when I get home, I promise."

The hawk looked at him, then at the building. "Yeah," the bird said, "I can do that. And I'll hang around until you come out, too. It's not like I've got anything better to do, and besides, not having to catch my own food would be nice. It had better be a big deer, though."

The raptor dropped one wing, and the three chuunin climbed on, sitting up on the bird's neck. Quickly, Neji grabbed onto the bird's foot, and the flying creature took off, winging due east.

---

"So, now that we're almost here, I feel like we might want to know…" Asudai had been pensive for the past several miles, thinking about the mission. "Who exactly wants you? I mean, you said that the bandit fight thing was just incidental, right?" Pale, Hideki nodded. Asudai continued, thinking hard. "Well, who do we need to be worrying about, then? Is it some sort of gang? A rival company or something? What are we up against?"

Haruze nodded, obviously wondering the same thing. Hideki shifted slightly, trying to stop, and Maki slowly eased him down onto a large rock.

Taking a deep breath, Hideki wiped his face free from sweat before explaining.

"Okay. I know some things that certain people don't want me to know. So I'm trying to get to a place that can help me stay hidden while I compile the information, right? And then…"

Asudai interrupted. "It doesn't matter what you're trying to do, sir. Just tell us who we need to fight, and we'll do it." His teammates nodded, agreeing.

Hideki sighed, the stress of the circumstance showing on his face. "Put simply, Boss Taka wants me to go away."

Asudai had been expecting something of the sort and managed to control his reaction. Haruze didn't do quite as well.

"You mean, /the/ Boss Taka? The big one?" Haruze gaped.

Boss Taka was a notorious yakuza boss. He wasn't a ninja, and he didn't employ any, either. But the people he hired were those with no compunctions about killing, and the people he kept employed were those who did their jobs well.

"…that'd make it an A-rank mission, I guess." Commented Maki slowly. Hideki nodded, biting his lip nervously.

"I'm sorry, you guys. I thought you knew when you started the mission. After the bandit fight, I was hoping that we'd be able to sneak past Taka's goons, or maybe he wouldn't be expecting us. But I guess it's only fair that you know what you're getting into."

Asudai stood up, stretching. "Well, we might as well get going. We're not going to give up of the mission, and it won't get finished while we just stand here. Let's start moving, again!"

Maki helped Hideki again, echoing Asudai with a resounding shout. Haruze followed the trio, agreeing weakly with the idea of completing the mission.

---

"So where do you want me to drop you off?" asked the giant hawk as he circled the buildings. Boushi pointed towards an open clearing.

"If you could put us there and then just kill anybody who comes out from that area until we get back, that'd be fantastic."

Wordlessly, the bird of prey folded his wings back and plummeted towards the ground, centuries of experience telling him when to snap his wings back out and decelerate. He landed softly, allowing his passengers to get off before winging back into the air.

"We'll be back in an hour at the outside," shouted Boushi. The hawk screeched acknowledgement and dived at an unsuspecting passerby who had just exited the building. Inoka looked away as the curved beak ripped into the man's stomach, but Hana was busily flashing through hand seals, performing some sort of jutsu.

He thrust his hands into the ground, calling out, "Doton: Surudoi Ishi no Jutsu!" [2]. The ninja felt around under the earth for several moments before withdrawing his hands and pointing at a building. "The room we want is underneath that building," he said, already running towards it. He shouldered a man out of the way as he went through the door, and Boushi quickly cut his throat with a kunai before following Hana. Inoka looked away as she went through the door, not wanting to watch the hawk devouring the new corpse.

Hana ran down the hall with kunai in his hands, indiscriminately killing anybody he came across. He burst through a door and interrupted some sort of business meeting, nicely dressed men all sitting at a long table with papers in front of them. All conversation ceased as the men attempted to fathom why a heavily breathing ninja with two bloody kunai had entered the building. Inoka and Boushi came up just behind him, breathing a little more easily and with significantly less bloody weapons.

Of everybody in the room, Inoka reacted the fastest. Channeling her chakra quickly, she called out, "Mokudon: Shibaru Mokuzai no Jutsu" [3], zeroing in on the person at the head of the table.

He gaped as suddenly his wooden chair began to grow again, thick branches curling around his arms and legs. Slowly, the chair itself began to warp and grow, turning itself into a framework that surrounded him, the wood dictating his movements. Jerkily, he stood up and began walking towards the three ninja, obviously trying to fight the jutsu he found himself captive to.

"There's a room underneath this building that we need to find," Boushi said quietly. "And until we get there and out again, we'll be taking this man with us. And we're not patient people. Unless you show us where to go and quickly, I'm not going to be able to guarantee that this man will be returned in the condition we found him in."

Recognizing her cue, Inoka moved her chakra a little and the man screamed. Slowly, his arm came up to reveal the fact that his little finger was being steadily bent backwards. Inoka shifted again and it stopped, although it remained in the same uncomfortable position.

Finally, one of the men sitting at the table spoke, nervously. "I'm afraid we don't know what you're…"

/crack/. The man screamed again, and another finger began to bend backwards. Hana glared at the collection of people around the table. "After we finish with all his fingers, I'm sure we can find other things to play with. And when we're done with him, we'll just have to move on to one of you. Now, I'm fairly positive that this man is somebody's boss. If you want him to still work when we're finished, I'd recommend you stop wasting our time and show us where to go.

The man sobbed softly from pain. "For the love of god," he cried, "Just show them where to go! Please!"

A man wearing a blue tie stood up warily and addressed the ninja. "I think I know the room you're talking about. Um…Should I take you to it?"

Hana looked at him blankly. "Unless you want your boss broken, then I'd say that'd be a yes."

Without a word, the man walked past them, giving all three a wide berth. Inoka twitched her chakra once more, and tied everybody in the room into their chairs, as well. "You people just stay here for a little while. I don't want anybody running around and doing something stupid."

The quintet exited the room, and one final shift grew the door into the frame, sealing the entire room shut.

Hana walked in front, casually killing anybody who came up to them. Boushi walked next to their guide, his hand resting casually on a kunai. The implied message was clear, and the guide spent much of his time swallowing nervously and sweating profusely. Inoka walked next to her hostage, keeping his finger in the same uncomfortable position.

The guide stopped next to a door, and called after Hana, "Sir, this is the door we want." Hana wheeled back, and opened the door for the man.

"Why don't you go first," he said, voice dripping with sugar. "Just to make sure everybody remains safe?" Hana pushed the man down the first step, making clear the fact that argument wasn't an option. Swallowing again, the guide began to walk down the stairs, keeping a hand on the stone wall for support.

The ragtag group walked for several minutes before coming to a cell door that had two guards posted in front of it. They both gaped at the procession just a little too long, allowing Boushi enough time to bury shuriken in their heads. They slumped down against the door, and Hana shouldered them out of the way. He fiddled with the door for a moment before slamming a fist into the frame in anger. "We need a key", he said. "Can anybody bypass it?"

A finger of wood began to delve into the bosses' pockets, eventually coming out dangling a ring of keys. Inoka handed them to Hana, who quickly started trying each of them in the lock. A quiet /click/ echoed through the hallway, and the door swung open, screeching in protest.

A gaunt figure looked up from the corner, blinking in disbelief. "Are you ninja?" His voice cracked from disuse, and he cleared his throat noisily. Inoka pulled a water bottle from her pack and offered it to the man. He accepted it gratefully and gulped down several mouthfuls of water before handing it back.

Hana picked him up by the forearm and set him on his feet. "We're here to get you out", he informed the prisoner. The captive tottered on his feet, and Hana slipped an arm around his torso, supporting him. Quickly, the group of six began to navigate their way out of the prison.

---

Maki tapped Asudai on the shoulder, and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "You know we're being followed, right? And I don't think it's the group of local toughs." Asudai nodded.

"Think it's worth getting into a fight over it?" He whispered back. Haruze joined the group, adding his own two cents.

"We might as well. Boss Taka's probably got hundreds of guys to throw at us if he really wants Hideki to disappear, we're better off fighting small groups of five or six than large groups of ten or twenty."

Hideki coughed, trying to enter the conversation. "If you can get me to a specific building," he said, voice shaking, "then I'll be safe. They have defenses there that can stand against Boss Taka. If you can get me to that building, then we'll be safe."

Asudai stopped walking. "We might as well take out this group before we do anything else. After that, we'll take you to whatever building you need to go to, Hideki."

Hideki nodded, sitting down weakly. Haruze and Asudai ambled towards the thugs, Maki stayed with Hideki.

Without a word, Asudai punched one of the goons in the face, forcing him backwards into the arms of his cohorts. Quickly, Haruze ran through some seals, calling "Mizu no Nodo no Jutsu" [4]. Clouds of mist began to gather around the goons, condensing into water around their faces. Sweat dripped down Haruze's face as he held the jutsu, keeping the water in place. As the last brute slid down and died, the jutsu released and water began to collect in a puddle on the ground. Wordlessly, the two ninja joined their partner and Hideki began to direct them to his destination.

---

The group of six opened the last door and stepped into the outdoors, into the clearing littered with bloody bones. The giant hawk looked at them, meat dripping from his beak.

"You said it was okay for me to kill everybody who came outside, right?"

Boushi nodded, and began helping the gaunt man he had rescued onto the back of the large raptor. The voice of his guide stopped him.

"Excuse me. You didn't think that we were going to let you just walk out of here, did you?"

Hana glared at the man, obviously not understanding why this was an issue. "We went over this already, pinhead. If you don't want your boss to be the proud new owner of some injuries that are incompatible with life, you'll let us go."

The guide sneered and patted his chest. "Funny you should mention that. I'm feeling just fine."

The man tied up in wood whimpered softly, and Hana got it. The doors and windows were all flung open simultaneously, revealing very angry looking men, all armed with weapons looking decidedly sharp and dangerous.

'oh shit', thought Hana.

Hurriedly, he threw the prisoner on the hawk, and Boushi climbed on as well. Inoka was already fighting with men who had charged, but without a weapon, he didn't know how long she could last. Inhaling deeply, he ran through a string of hand seals while calling, "Katon: Karyuu Endan!" A large fireball engulfed the thugs who were fighting Inoka, and he pulled her back, trying to keep her safe.

Inoka turned to run towards the bird, but she stumbled on a rock and fell to her knees. A leering man with shaggy hair darted in, sword raised. Quickly, Hana interposed himself between the man and his comrade, blocked the blow with the metal plate on his glove. Two swift kicks knocked the aggressor out of commission, one kick to go down and one kick to go out.

Grabbing Inoka's arm, Hana practically threw her on the bird. The hawk was understandably nervous, and flapping his wings, ready to go anytime. Hana frantically climbed up behind everybody else, holding onto to feathers to stabilize himself. The hawk began to take off, the powerful wing beats knocking men down like toys.

Through the powerful gale, a lone arrow fired as a parting shot managed to pierce its way past the winds. As the hawk began to fly away, the arrow /thudded/ into Hana's shoulder, and knocked him off the bird. Shocked by the pain, he fell to the ground with as much control over himself as a rag doll. Immediately, soldiers descended on his body and began to carry him down to the prison he had only recently vacated.

If she hadn't been so high, Inoka would have thrown herself off the bird to try and rescue her partner; she may not like him, but he was a ninja of the leaf, just like her. And besides, he'd rescued her when she was in trouble, so he couldn't be all bad, right?

As it was, she was forced to watch her fellow ninja get captured, knowing that she had to leave him there.

---

It was getting dark, Asudai noted. They'd been walking through the city for the better part of three hours, obviously taking a roundabout path to the safe-house that Hideki needed to get to. That was wise, probably. If Boss Taka wanted this guy gone, he'd be guarding as many ways to get to the building as he could. And being Boss Taka, he could guard a lot.

"Turn left here, down this alleyway." Hideki's voice was strained, his leg was hurting. There must have been something on that arrowhead, something that Haruze didn't fix with the paste that he put on.

Maki turned down the alleyway and stopped. About thirty-five feet further down, there was a large crowd of people who looked decidedly un-friendly. One of them looked up and smiled. "Well, well." He said casually. "Look who decided to join the party. It's a pleasure to see you all, truly, it is."

Hideki tugged at Maki's collar urgently. "There's another path we can take. We don't need to fight these guys, if we run fast, then we can beat them."

Maki shook his head. "No good," he said. "There are too many, they'll chase us down. One of us will have to stay here and keep them occupied while the others take you to the building."

The mob began moving forward and Maki glanced at Haruze quickly. "Can you stay and keep these guys occupied? It'll only be for a couple minutes, I think." Haruze shook his head frantically.

"No way!" He exclaimed. "That's a suicide job. I like living just fine, somebody else can stay here!"

The other two ninja paused, trying to fathom what had just happened. Haruze had just balked at fighting these guys? Yeah, it was probably suicide, but they were ninja. Dying was a part of their job.

Asudai was about to volunteer to stay, when Maki thrust Hideki into his arms. Hideki stumbled slightly, and Asudai caught him automatically, unconsciously assuming the same position that Maki had taken.

Withdrawing a kunai, Maki hurriedly gave some instructions to Asudai. "Just follow his directions to the building, but when you get there, just drop him off, if you can. Then come back and help me, I'm sure that I'll need it."

He turned and flung the kunai into the mob; a man dropped and he withdrew another. "Hurry up, dammit! I'm not playing around, here!"

Quickly, Asudai, Haruze, and Hideki ran back down the alley where they came from, turned, and disappeared into the darkness. Maki smiled, gearing up for the big fight.

"If you guys think you'll be getting past me, then you're about to learn that you are very, very wrong."

The mob charged, and Maki began to fight.

---

"Stop here! Please, land the bird!" Inoka implored. Boushi leaned forward and shouted something in the hawk's ear, the hawk wheeled and began to fly down towards the cliff face that he had been summoned at.

Clouds of dust flew up in miniature whirlwinds as the giant bird flapped his wings, but Inoka ignored them and jumped off. Boushi reached for her, not understanding what she was doing.

"You go back to the village," she told him hurriedly. "Return the guy we rescued, that'll clear us for the completion of the mission. I'll stay here, I can't leave Hana behind. I'll go in and rescue him, and then use my deer summon to get back to the village. Just make sure you tell the exam proctors what's happened, so that they don't fail us.

She began flashing through hand seals, when Boushi stopped her. Placing his hand over hers, he looked into her eyes. They were nervous, and a little upset.

"Good luck," he told her softly. She patted the side of the bird, and told him to get going.

"You need to get back to the village, remember? Just don't forget to let people know what happened."

Boushi nodded, and the bird took off again. Inoka began contorting her hands one more, then nicked her thumb and slammed her palms into the grounds, calling, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" A giant deer grew into existence in front of her, and it nuzzled her palm softly. She hugged it for a moment, then leapt on its back and explained what had happened. Nodding, the deer ran down the side of the cliff and began to sprint back towards the fortress.

---

"Thank you, thank you so much. I can't tell you what this means.." Asudai uncharacteristically interrupted the lady thanking him, telling her that he had something he needed to go do. Normally, he would never break into somebody else when they were speaking, especially if they were thanking him or otherwise stroking his ego.

But right now, there was the life of a ninja at stake, and that took precedent over anything else, not counting the completion of the mission. He darted past Haruze, who tried to stop him, tried to explain what had happened, but Asudai didn't listen. He didn't have time to spare for people who weren't willing to do their jobs.

Running down the alley, he practiced a technique his father had taught him, channeling chakra to his feet to elevate him just a little, using his feet to skate, never losing speed to friction from the ground. It was a method of running that was extremely tiring, but the speed boost it gave you was unimaginable. He kicked off the wall to turn a corner and nearly ran over the man he was looking for.

Maki was sitting on the ground, one hand tucked inside his bloody shirt. His face was cut, and blood was dripping into his eye, but he didn't bother to try and blink it out. He looked at Asudai blearily, recognition finally dawning in his mind.

"Hey," he said, weakly. Asudai crouched, tried to pick him up and carry him like they had both done with Hideki. Kicked a dead body out of the way, he jostled Maki's arm, and the man hissed with pain. Looking at it closely, Asudai saw that it was broken.

"Did you get him to the safe-house?" Maki's voice was soft and sounded like there was fluid in his lungs. Asudai nodded, tearing off a strip of cloth from his shirt, using it to bind the broken arm. Carefully, he picked his comrade up, checking for any other wounds.

Moving slowly so as not to jostle anything that would hurt, Asudai began to carry Maki back to the safe-house. Maki shifted position and moaned from pain, so Asudai set him down. Summoning up his chakra, he worked a minor genjutsu, whispering "Shizuka na Suimin no Jutsu" [5]. Maki fell into a deep sleep, breathing softly and quietly. Asudai picked him up again and brought him to the safe house.

---

Inoka wrapped her arms around the deer's neck, it being the only way to keep herself in place. The deer was charging down the plain, coming at the wall at a speed in excess of what Inoka really felt comfortable with.  Without warning, the deer tensed its muscles and leapt, easily breaching the false security that a wall gave to an area. The deer landed masterfully in the clearing that Hana had been captured in, and Inoka dismounted. She hastily whispered some instructions to her summoned creature, who nodded and leapt away.

Inoka strode purposefully towards the building she had grown to hate, throwing the door open like she belonged there. A man who had been walking down the hall stared at her, not used to so many intrusions in one day. She walked up to him and took his sword. Before he could react, she stabbed him twice through the chest, then wiped the bloody blade on his shirt. Pausing for a moment over the dead body, Inoka mentally retraced her steps through the building on her previous visit, then hurriedly walked towards where she knew the door would be.

---

Boushi squinted into the distance, hoping to see some sign of the village he needed to get to. Noting some lights off in the distance, he tapped the bird and pointed; the hawk nodded and wheeled over towards where the village must be.

After several minutes of flight, the giant bird dived towards the ground, expertly snapping its full wingspan open to stop the rapid descent. As soon as the raptor touched ground, Boushi leapt off and set about helping the skeletal prisoner he had rescued off the mount he had been put on.

Neji phased into view beside him, watching the ninja struggle with the rescued. "Here. Your mission is complete, all three of you pass. I'll take this man up to the hospital, you can go rest."

Boushi nodded gratefully, stumbling slightly as he walked. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted a large group of people and ambled over towards them. One turned and noticed, him, and alerted the rest of the group to his presence.

"Hey, everybody! Somebody else is back!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. Looking at Boushi, Naruto asked a question that was lost in the murmur of the group.

"What?" Boushi said. He hadn't quite heard the question, and Naruto repeated it patiently.

"What group are you from? Who are your teammates?"

Boushi nodded sagely. "Hana somebody and Inoka somebody. I don't know their family names."

A woman with pink hair bulled her way to the front of the group, a man with black hair close behind her. "Did you say Hana? About your height, short black hair?"

Boushi nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Looking at the woman, he decided that this must be his mother. She looked like the sort of person who would name her son flower.

Hope shone in her face, and she looked around excitedly, trying to find her son. "Where is he?", she asked, "He came back with you, right?" She focused on Boushi's face, not yet ready to accept what he was about to say.

Boushi reminded himself that this was part of being a ninja, being the bearer of bad news. "We completed the mission requirements, but Hana was captured as we were making our escape." A tear began to leak its way down Sakura's stony face as Boushi continued. "He took an arrow in the shoulder, but I left Inoka just a short distance away. She said that she was going to rescue him and then come back. When they do, we'll all have passed."

Sakura turned to her husband, trying to put on a brave face. "Did you hear that, Sasuke-kun? When Hana comes back, he'll…he'll have passed…." She embraced Sasuke, burying her face in his chest to hide her worried tears. A man placed his hand on her shoulder, and she turned to look at him, red already beginning to stain her cheeks.

"If my daughter's out there, then I'm sure that together, they'll be able to come back, Sakura. They're the two strongest chuunin of the village. They'll make it, I'm sure."

Sasuke nodded his thanks to Shikamaru, and the man withdrew his hand. Boushi began to walk towards the house he was staying at, knowing that the only thing he could do now was get some sleep.

---

Hana sat up, noises echoing in his ears. His hands had been bound, but not broken; they were apparently waiting to torture him until they could do a proper job of it. They'd even cleaned the arrow wound, apparently wanting to break him from peak condition.

Yes, that was definitely the noise of a swordfight going on upstairs. Had that bastard Neji come to rescue him?

The door slammed open, and the dead body of a guard fell down the stairs, coming to rest in front of Hana's cell. Breathing heavily, Inoka shut and bolted the door, using her sword to brace it shut. After a moment heavy blows began to rain on the other side, but it looked like it would hold for several minutes. Inoka ignored it and stepped over the guard's body, reaching into the pocket for the ring of keys. Without a word, she unlocked the cell door.

Hana held his tied hands out to her, and she severed the leather cord winding around his wrists with a quick swipe from a kunai. He flexed his fingers; they were stiff, but usable. "What are you doing here," he asked as she walked down the hall. "You should have gone back, we need to complete the…" Inoka whirled to face him, her eyes burning angrily.

"For your information, Boushi is flying back to the village right now, so don't worry about that. The mission will be finished just like it's supposed to. And if you expect that I'm some sort of a shabby leaf ninja who doesn't come back to rescue her partners, then you don't know me at all." She paused, and Hana waited, taken aback by the outburst that he hadn't expected.

She huffed and turned again, heading back down the hallway. "The door won't hold for very long, we should find another way out."

Wordlessly, Hana followed her, still thinking about what she had said.

---

The nurse didn't even blink an eye at the injuries Maki had, she simply took his body and hustled it expertly to where he could be given medical treatment. Asudai let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding, as Shino leaned against the hallway wall, arms crossed and head down.

"The two of you passed," he said quietly. Haruze looked at him, surprised. "The two of us? Why not Maki, as well?"

Shino glared at Haruze, somehow making it show even through the dark glasses he wore. "You misunderstand, Haruze. Both Asudai and Maki passed. You failed."

Haruze gaped at him. "What? How did I fail? What did I do wrong?"

Asudai knew, but he didn't say anything, leaving it up to the proctor.

"Ninja are often called upon to do jobs which they might not survive. In situations like that, refusing the job is not an option. You do what is required to the best of your ability, even if it costs you your life. That is what Jounin do, and you backed down."

Haruze stared at Shino incredulously. "But look at Maki! He's got a broken arm, a punctured lung, and god knows what else is wrong with him! How can you expect me to do that to myself?"

Shino closed his eyes, tiring of the conversation. "Maki did." He said simply. "And now he's moving on through the exam. You didn't, and you're stopping here. If you can't understand that, then you don't deserve to be a ninja at all."

Haruze looked to Asudai for support, but Asudai turned his back. Together, Shino and Asudai walked down the hall to find Maki.

Angrily, Haruze kicked the wall and left the hospital.

---

A shaft of light illuminated the floor, and Inoka stared at it. A shaft of light meant a window. A window meant access to the outside world. And that meant that she and Hana could go through the window and escape.

Looking up hopefully, she began to scale the wall. Disappointment was audible in her voice as she called back, "The window is blocked by bars. We can't get through."

Hana thought for a moment. "Are the bars metal?" He asked her. She called back an affirmative.

"Then you might want to get down from there", he said, already knowing what to do. She dropped from the wall, questions in her eyes, but he ignored them, focusing on the jutsu he was trying to perform.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu" he called, summoning a giant salamander. The reptile opened his eyes and looked at Hana, exhaling a smoke ring contentedly. "Yeah? Whaddaya want?" He asked, his voice rough like that of a lifelong chain smoker.

Hana indicated the window with his thumb. "We need those bars melted," he said. The lizard nodded and scaled the wall, sticking to the stone through some sort of mysterious magic that Inoka couldn't hope to fathom.

Inhaling loudly, the lizard coughed for a moment, then exhaled a burst of flames that made Hana sweat even from his position on the floor. Melted slag ran down the wall in red-hot rivulets, pooling on the ground like lava from a boiling volcano. The salamander walked down the wall, apparently unhurt by the scorching metal that he trod on so carelessly. "I assume youse guys wants to go through that window, right?"

Hana nodded, and the lizard turned around. "Then hop and hang on, cause there ain't no way you can climb through there right now. Just watch your heads, 'kay?"

The door shattered, far in the background, the noise startling Inoka into action. She leapt onto the back of the lizard that Hana had summoned, and he scuttled up the wall like it was a horizontal plane. Scooting through the window, Inoka rolled off his back and looked around for guards while the lizard went back for Hana. In a moment, Hana was standing beside her and the lizard disappeared with a /pop/.

Slamming her hand into the ground one last time, Inoka called up the deer and climbed on its back, Hana behind her. Quickly, the deer leapt away, over the wall and over the plains, towards home and family.

---

It was late when the deer reached the village. Hana had fallen asleep, his head resting on Inoka's shoulder like a child. She could have waken him up, but something stopped her. She rationalized it to herself, thinking that he'd had a hard day and could use the rest.

The deer padded up to the gate of Konoha, and the guard swung it open without question. The pause in motion awakened Hana, and he sat up, blinking blearily. "Where are we?" he asked, tiredly. Inoka looked back at him; there was something kind of…cute…about the way he was blinking, the way his hair was mussed up from being pressed against her shoulder for so long. She almost smiled, then thought better of it and settled for informing him that they were home.

The deer walked purposefully through the village, guided by whispered directions given by Inoka. After several minutes, the deer came to the clearing where you were supposed to meet your proctors and clear the mission with them.

Inoka leapt off and stumbled, placing a hand against the deer to steady herself. Hana just tumbled off, and she did her best to keep from laughing at him. He grinned at her from his upside down position on the ground, and extended a hand to her.

She pulled him up and helped him hobble to the group of people lying on the ground. She kicked one awake, recognizing it as her father. "Dad," she said softly, "I'm back."

As Shikamaru blinked himself awake, Sakura was already up and hugging her son, whispering things into his ear, motherly words of pride and love. After a moment, she released her son and embraced Inoka as well, to the surprise of most of the people there.

"Thank you for bringing my son back," Sakura whispered in Inoka's ear. Inoka demurred, insisting that it was what any good ninja would have done, but Sakura would have none of it. Looking Inoka straight in the eye, she said, "It is what any good ninja would have done, but that doesn't change the fact that you did it. Besides, he's my son and I don't know what I would do without him. So thank you."

As Sakura began checking her son for injuries sustained during the mission, saying proper mother things about each wound, Inoka woke up Neji to inform him that she was back.

/oh, that must have hurt/

"I'm back, Proctor."

Neji opened his eyes and sat up drunkenly, adjusting to his surroundings.

/you're going to get that checked at a hospital/

"Oh, you're here? Good. The entire team passed, then." Inoka smiled, and helped her father to stand up.

/I don't want any buts. You're going straight to a hospital, that looks infected/

Inoka and Shikamaru supported each other as they walked home. Sakura stopped with a call, she had one last thing to say.

"Inoka! Don't forget! Anytime you want to come over, just stop by! You're always welcome in our house, okay?"

Hana protested irritably, and Sakura ruffled his hair. "I'm just trying to be friendly, Hana-chan. She helped you get home, and she deserves dinner whenever she wants it. Now, let's get you to a hospital. You've got one more test to go through, and you want to be in prime condition for it."

---

The next morning, all the participants of the exam who had passed the second test gathered in the general meeting place, the proctors ready to meet them. Boushi was still in the hospital in a neighboring town, but Shino inform him as to what happened during the meeting. Asudai had been transported by a giant flying bug back to Konoha.

"All of you gathered now have passed two out of three parts of the Jounin exams. There are eight of you left. During the exam, two ninja failed and two ninja died."

There was a brief moment of silence for those who died, then Neji continued. "The final part of the exam will be held in one month. It would be a tournament. The exact rules will be explained when the tournament begins. Until then, you can rest, read, play games, do whatever. I suggest you train. If you have injuries that need healing, report to the hospital and you will be given aid."

And with that, the meeting disbanded. The seven ninja there talked amongst themselves about what they thought would be the final part, but none of them really knew anything. One by one, the ninja all drifted away, going to do their own thing.

---

On top of a roof, Naruto and Hinata sat next to each other, watching the crowd disperse.

"Two of them died? That's sad." Commented Naruto idly. Hinata didn't respond, and he glanced at her, concerned.

"They were on the team that I proctored," she whispered. Naruto nodded, understanding why she was upset. He placed a comforting arm around her shoulder and she leaned into his chest, a long tear making its way down her face.

After a moment, he smiled. "Hey. Why don't we get some ramen, and I'll tell you about my group? It'll cheer you up, I promise."

Hinata sniffed and wiped her face. "Sounds good," she said softly.

Standing up, Naruto began jumping towards Ichiraku Ramen, Hinata close on his tail.

---

Next time on Last Step: Now that the jounin are back, Kutsu needs to find somebody to train him, and it won't be Naruto. While Shikamaru and Kimiko are out training, they meet somebody who looks familiar, but they can't quite place him. Has an old enemy of the village come to call?

---

Author's note: [1]: Helmet Splitters. Small metal objects that ninja can throw at people's heads, with enough force to crack metal helmets. Good for using against samurai.

[2]: Earth Element: Searching Stone Technique.

[3]: Wood Element: Binding Wood Technique

[4]: Choking Water Technique

[5]: Dreamy Sleep Technique

hah. Whoops. I'm sorry, guys. When I said that I would get this out on Friday, I didn't know that I would be gone all day Thursday. So I spent all day Friday writing to make up for it, but it got to be around 2 in the morning, and then I discovered that Hana had just been captured. I figured that getting this out Saturday afternoon would be just as good as getting it out early Saturday morning, so I went to bed and got some sleep. If it's any consolation, this chapter is much longer than all the others. The other chapters have usually been in the range of 4000 words of content, this one is almost 12,000. It doesn't make up for it, but hopefully it'll take the sting out.

Anyway. I generally like this one. I think the quality goes down a little in the last five or six pages, but it's nothing too bad. Did I do a good job describing the action? I know how everything happened, it's all pretty much a movie to me, but I'm not sure if I did a good job telling the rest of you guys how everything went down. Hopefully, you understood it. If you've got any questions, just mention them in a review and leave your email, I'll get in touch with you. Sorry for the Naru-Hina stuff at the end. It just felt so right. I'll do my best to keep it to a minimum, and write a separate story about it for those who want it.

And finally, the obligatory ending comments: Gemin, you rule. If any of you reviewers want to get in touch with me for whatever reason, then just add me to your AIM buddy list and give me a ring. I'm always happy to talk to a reviewer.


	9. Reflection

The Naruto concept is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This story, and any original characters inside, are mine. Don't take them. You know the drill.

---

Reflection

---

The steam rose up from the cup and Naruto watched it quietly. He thought it was interesting how the slightest change in pace, the minutest movement or exhale or inhale or anything could so drastically change the path that the steam took. It eddied and swirled, following invisible paths, pushed by invisible forces. Naruto closed his eyes, raised the cup, and sipped slowly.

"Ah…" he murmured to himself, secure in the warmth of the tea. He had been looking forward to this all day. Setting the mug back on the table, he began watching the steam rise again.

A door swished open across the room, and the steam disappeared. Carefully, Naruto raised his eyes as a brace of kunai flopped on the chair. Kutsu followed, except on the floor. Naruto's view of his student was blocked by the table, but he could tell what the child was doing.

"I am too tired," Kutsu stated, "to do anything. Even die."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "You're on the floor." He stated, matter-of-fact.

A sigh originated from somewhere down there. "Indeed I am."

Naruto blinked in exasperation. He took another sip from his tea, hoping to glean some sort of calming effect from the warmth and goodness. It almost worked. "Are you clean?" he asked, like it was the most natural thing in the world to be doing.

Another sigh, then some rustling. "Um….Well, I'm kinda sweaty. And I think I'm bleeding. And there's probably some mud on me, but I'm too stiff to check very much. And –"

Naruto cut him off with a loud slurp. Slurping brought out the flavour in ramen, so maybe it would work with tea. "So you are, in fact, dirty."

"Yeah."

The cup slammed on the table with a sharp rap, echoing briefly through the small apartment. "Since you're already down there, I hope you can tell me. Is the floor, by any chance, as dirty as you are?"

There was a brief pause. "Um…Hang on…ow…" While he waited, Naruto took more sips. "Yes."

Naruto blinked. If he looked carefully, he could see the tea particles swirling around in the green tinted water. "Yes, what?"

"Yes, the floor is as dirty as I am."

Tilting his head back, Naruto waited for the last drops of tea to slide into his mouth before he reached for the pot. "I see," he stated. The boiling water splashed into the tea mug, looking like it was slightly melon flavoured, though it wasn't. "Was it like that before you flopped down there?" Naruto's voice was beginning to rise, betraying his irritation.

"Um…I really don't know. The rest of it looks pretty clean, though…I'm guessing it wasn't."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, although Kutsu couldn't see it. Tea wasn't going to help relax Naruto now, he knew it. "The floor was clean because I washed it."

"It looks good."

"It did. It doesn't anymore. Do you know why?"

"Um…because there's a big dirty spot in the middle of it now?"

Naruto nodded. Kutsu couldn't see that either, but the kid guessed it was happening. Naruto gave his mug a push, sliding it off the end of the table. A moment's silence, then a sharp crack and a splash were almost, but not quite, drowned out by the shout of pain emanating from somewhere in the vicinity of the floor.

"I spent almost an hour getting this apartment nice and clean. Almost an hour. And then I sat down to a nice relaxing pot of tea because dammit, I deserve it after almost an hour of cleaning, and then you come in. And you make it dirty again."

"oww…."

"And now, on top of the dirty floor, I'm out of tea."

"I don't really think you can blame that on me." Kutsu protested plaintively, rubbing the bump on his forehead. "And it was hot, too. It hurt."

Naruto stood up and stalked over to the sink. Retrieving a mostly clean dishrag from the counter, he flipped it over his shoulder and smiled on the inside when it flopped onto Kutsu's face.

"Oh god, this smells nasty…" Kutsu sat up and pulled the rag off his face. "It's like artificial lemon and alcohol mixed into one. What have you been doing with this?"

Naruto walked past him, barely deigning to acknowledge the boy's presence. "It smells like cleaning solution. You're going to use it to clean the floor."

Kutsu gaped at him. "I can't! I'm too tired, remember?" He flopped on the floor again to reinforce his point. Naruto slid open the door to the bathroom, then turned, looking at Kutsu with a critical eye.

"I wouldn't flop on the floor like that if I were you," he said. "It just make more dirty parts for you to scrub. And what you're fighting is the pain barrier. Beat it to get stronger."

Sullenly, Kutsu began scrubbing the floor. "And what are you going to do while I slave away?" he questioned. Naruto wagged a finger at him.

"I'm going to take a bath. Less talk, more scrub. Cleaning solution is under the sink. It's the yellow bottle. Smells like artificial lemon and alcohol. I'd tell you to take a swig if you feel like you need it, but you're too young and the stuff is rank, anyway."

He ignored Kutsu's incredulous gaze and stripped and showered, shivering slightly as the cool water washed over him. With a long exhale, he sank into the warm tub to the tips of his earlobes. If he concentrated, he could hear Kutsu cleaning….

"Oh man… this stuff smells nasty. How could you possibly drink this? Maybe if you hold your nose. That blocks out taste, doesn't it?" A pause, then a spit. Naruto smiled to himself.

"I don't hear any scrubbing out there," he called.

"That's because you're old and deaf." was the irate reply.

Naruto sank further in the tub, expelling air to raise his density. Warm water flowed around his hair, loosening it from his customary spikes. When he surfaced, a layer of yellow coated everything in his vision. He shook his head and sprayed water everybody, but managed to get the hair out of his eyes.

He leaned back, resting his head against the lip of the tub. Was this where his life was going? At thirteen, he'd been so positive that he would be Hokage by now. That goal seemed so far off, now.

He closed his eyes and began to reflect. Sure, he wasn't the Hokage. At least, he wasn't yet. He still had plans to change that. But right now, he had a more pressing engagement. He was the leader of a genin team. And let's be honest, that's no mean feat. And besides, it's a requirement to being Hokage, in tradition if not in letter.

A knock sounded on the door. "I finished cleaning the floor, and I put that dirty rag in the washer. I want to take a bath when you're done, so hurry up and finish whatever you're doing in there."

Naruto submerged, then surfaced again. "I'm almost done," he called out. "Just give me a couple more minutes, then you can spend all the time you like in here." Running a hand through his hair, he heaved himself out of the tub and snagged a towel from the rack.

As he wrapped it around his waist, he slid the door open and stepped out. Without a word, Kutsu darted in and shut the door loudly, locking it. Naruto laughed. "I have better people to peep on," he said loudly.

"Go to hell." Kutsu called back, his voice muffled by layers of cloth being pulled over his face.

Naruto smiled and put another pot of water on to boil. After he made the tea, he did some basic work while drinking to while away the time. He set his cup down after what seemed like not too long, and a yawn crept up on him. He blinked slowly, and yawned again.

"What time is it?" he mused softly, clearing away the tea supplies. As he put the cups in the dishwasher, he checked the clock on the wall. "11:42? No wonder I'm tired. Time for sleep, I guess."

He shuffled lazily over to the bathroom, rapping on the door. "It's time to come out, kid. Bedtime." He waited for a response.

Nothing. He rapped on the door again.

Still nothing. What was going on?

Naruto walked over to the table, and picked up a kunai he had been sharpening. Sliding the blade between the door and the jamb, he gave it a sharp twist and popped the lock. The door opened slightly, and he stepped into the steamy bathroom. "Hey Kutsu, you okay?"

He peered into the tub and was torn between laughing and smiling. Kutsu had fallen asleep in the tub, sinking down almost, but not quite to the point where his nostrils were submerged underwater. Every time the kid exhaled, the air made little ripples in the water. Naruto shook him, and Kutsu's head drooped on to his shoulder. No response.

Naruto paused, torn for a moment. The kid was obviously tired, was it really worth waking him just to tell him to go to sleep? Naruto thought of himself as lots of things, but needlessly cruel wasn't one of them. Carefully, he picked the kid out of the tub and draped a towel around him, a minor gesture to preserve part of Kutsu's dignity.

Patting Kutsu dry with one hand, Naruto carried the genin over to the guest room and gently deposited the child on his futon. Deep in sleep, Kutsu rearranged himself on the bed to get more comfortable, and Naruto smiled. Draping the blanket across the boy, Naruto stood up quietly and shuffled out of the room.

He leaned up against the hallway wall. "Night, kid" he whispered, half to himself and half to the sleeping form. He blinked and shook his head, then padded off towards his own room down the hall.

He still wanted to become the Hokage of Konoha, that had never changed and it probably never would. Right now, however, Naruto had a job that was even more important, and he planned to finish it before he moved onto anything else.

---

Author's note: To quote from the great Mark Twain: Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated. See, um…this little thing called life? It happened. I was writing fine up until I went to Rochester with my sister to help her settle into college life. Then my computer died, and I lost everything I had written of chapter nine. That was a bitch. And then school started. And with school came not only classes and homework, which I can deal with okay, but also cross country.

Turns out cross country sucks up my time like you wouldn't believe. Like, I'm getting home at six every single day. And then I need to do my homework, eat dinner, all that stuff. It really didn't leave any time for writing. And on the weekends, I just couldn't summon up the will power.

However, cross country is almost over…I've got districts on Saturday, and a week of practice after that because I want to run with the guy who's going to state. I'm weird like that. So call it two more weeks, then the season is over and I get home at a reasonable time each day.

Um…Other than that? Not much. I've gotten a couple reviews asking me to clarify what exactly the story is about, so I dashed this off to get me back in the writing mood, as well as to answer that question. If you're not like me and want a textbook answer, here you go: "Last Step" is about the last step that Naruto needs to take before becoming Hokage, namely, leading a team of Genin. It will deal with things pertaining to that last step, both Naruto and the Genin. I'm trying to keep it mostly focused on Naruto, but the genin characters are important, so I'll be spending some time developing them as well, in order to keep the story interesting and three dimensional. Part of the development of the genin is the development of their family. There are lots of minor things I'm referencing. Those will likely be explained in another story. Stop bugging me. Unless you were polite about it, in which case, if you have any further questions, please feel free to ask me.

Gemin, I hope college life is going well for you.

If any of you want to talk to me, my aim name is julka121. I'm always happy to talk to a reviewer. I'll be online on a semi regular basis in about two weeks.

Sorry for the long delay! I'll do my best to start writing on a regular basis again.


End file.
